Chronological List of Assessors, Recorders, and County Clerks

On September 9, 1850, California was admitted to the United States as the 31^st state. One of the first acts of the legislature was to adopt a statewide land records system. Under the Spanish and Mexican governments, there were no statewide recording laws and there was a need for a system by which evidence of title to, or an interest in land, could be collected in a convenient and safe public place. The basis of the California recording system is modeled after the recording system established by the American colonies that was in use in many eastern states at the time California became a state. The system allows for persons intending to purchase or otherwise deal with land to be informed as to the ownership and collection of the title, and to be protected from secret conveyance and liens. The system provided for a public official, known as the County Recorder, to transcribe a record of each land transaction into an official ledger, known as the Official Record.

The County Recorder, as the custodian of the Official Record, is obligated to preserve this information permanently, and is one of the very few government offices that must keep information forever. Ownership can be proved if throughout the history of the property, the rightful owners properly sold their land. All documents that have ever been recorded must remain open to public inspection and be on record forever.

In 1991, the departments of the County Recorder and the County Clerk merged. In 1996, there was further consolidation to form the Office of the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk.