On 8 September 1883 the General Assembly passed an Act to appropriate money and to designate the governor as ex - officio commissioner for the erection of a state capitol building. The governor was to appoint five commissioners within thirty days of the passage of the Act, and they were to receive one thousand dollars per annum. The governor then would continue as ex - officio chairman of the commissioners.

A second Act to appropriate funds for the grounds around the new Capitol building was passed on 20 December 1890. A new commission, consisting of the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, the Treasurer, the Comptroller General, and the Commissioner of Agriculture were authorized to create plans and specifications and contract with the lowest responsible bidder. A sum of eighteen thousand dollars was set aside for this purpose. The series of records represented here includes the official administrative papers of the Board of Commissioners that functioned between the years 1883 - 1889. The official papers have been augmented and amplified with certain related records, some of which provide information on the capitol at Milledgeville, the first Atlanta capitol building, and plans for a new Governor's Mansion in Atlanta in 1911. See also RGSGSERIES 4 - 2 - 46, File II, Subjects, Capitol Commissioners.