PORT TOWNSEND — The public will get its first look at the new storage facility for the Jefferson County Historical Society Research Center during a grand opening on Saturday.

A ribbon-cutting is planned at the expanded center at 13692 Airport Cutoff Road in Port Townsend at 1 p.m.

Tours of the 8,700-square-foot addition to the research center are planned from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The grand opening is free and open to everyone, but an RSVP to 360-385-1003 would be appreciated, historical society members said.

The new addition, built at a cost of $1.6 million, allows the historical society consolidate its archives — an estimated halfmillion documents, more than 20,000 photographs and 20,000 artifacts related to Jefferson County — in one space.

The Jefferson County Historical Society “operates five heritage sites in Jefferson County, but the research center is the ‘brains’ of the organization,” said Bill Tennent, historical society executive director.

“These are the community’s historical treasures, so we like to think of the research center as the community’s treasure chest,”

he added.

Conservator Becky Schurmann and archivist Marsha Moratti have been overseeing the move into the building — with large items moved by All Star Transfer of Edmonds — since the historical society received its occupancy permit last November.

Previously, most artifacts were stored in spaces donated by Fort Worden State Park.

It is a storage area, not a museum, and ordinarily will not be open to the public just to browse through, Tennent said.

Instead, staff members will bring out items from the new building to older research center building upon request.

For instance, a person researching Native American baskets could look at the three-dimensional artifacts as well as the documents.

“Everything in there is utilized in the exhibits” in the Jefferson County Museum at at 540 Water St., Tennent said.

Organization work is “an ongoing process,” he added.

“A lot of things are still boxed,” he said.

Said Julie Marston, historical society president: “We invite everyone for a behind-the-scenes look at the operation.

“We’ve been collecting since 1879, so we’ve got lots of stuff.

“It’s truly the community treasure chest.”

Refreshments will be provided by the Jefferson County Genealogical Society, partners in the operation of the facility.

The historical society had moved its archives into a 2,000 square foot building at the research center in 2003.

It soon filled to capacity, Tennent said, with both the reading room and computer stations often crowded.

The new space solved the problem, he said.

Funding came from numerous individual donors, including descendants of Port Townsend’s historic Rothschild family.

Major grants came from the state’s Heritage Capital Projects Fund, the Seattle Foundation, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Norcliffe Foundation, and the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation.

The research center’s usual hours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, except the third Saturday of the month, when hours are from noon to 4 p.m.

Admission is $4 for adults, $1 for children younger than 12 and free for historical society members. Jefferson County students are admitted free by prior arrangement.

For more information, phone 360-379-6673 or visit www.jchsmuseum.org.