Foreign incorporations include businesses not organized under the current laws of Utah. Before doing any business within the state, corporations filed with the county clerk of the county in which the principal place of business was to be situated.

Foreign incorporation case files contain, at a minimum, the original articles of incorporation and any subsequent amendments. Some files also contain notices to pay licensing fees and taxes, oaths of office for corporate officers, annual reports, correspondence, mergers, and other miscellaneous documents. Case files were created during the length of a corporation’s existence. The original case file was generated upon initial incorporation within the state of Utah but governed by laws “…other than the laws of this state” and served as evidence of “due incorporation of the corporation” [UCA 16-10-2]. The series ended in 1961 when registration of corporations was transferred to state government and the Utah Division of Corporations was created. Articles of incorporation constitute a contract between the state and corporation, between corporation and stockholders, and between the stockholders and state. The articles of incorporation recorded the following: names of the incorporators and their places of residence; the length of the corporation’s existence; the pursuit of business agreed upon; amount of stock each shareholder received; description of stock classes; number and kind of corporate officers; and number of directors necessary to transact corporate business. Documents produced after the initial incorporation and creation of the case files were integrated by the County Clerk to maintain the original case number order. (Source: Utah State Archive’s finding aid for series 4019)

Gaps in the series: Cases 3947-3951, and 4085-4090 are assumed to be missing.

Indexes: Two types of indexes were created by the Salt lake County Clerk to facilitate access to the Foreign Incorporation Case Files:

1)The Foreign Corporations Index (1891-1961) is alphabetical by first letter of corporation name. Researchers will need to check the entire listing under the alphabetical letter to ensure finding the corporation they are researching. Each entry includes the following information: name of the corporation; case number; amendments; corporate name changes; name changes of agents representing the corporation in Utah; and dissolutions or withdrawal decrees.

2)The Oaths of Office Index (Series CL-021) includes oaths of officers of foreign incorporations. The index for 1916-1917 is alphabetical by corporate officer name and includes date of the oath of office, office held, corporation number, and corporation name. 1918-1931 is alphabetical by corporation name and includes date, number of oaths filed, corporation number, and sometimes the name of the officer and office held.