PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Historical Society has received a $150,000 gift from an anonymous benefactor that will lead to more money for the maintenance and operations of its new research center.
“This is a wonderful surprise,” said Bill Tennent, historical society director, after the group received the money this week.
“It will go a long way toward the support of the facility.”
The donation is a contribution to the Barbara Marseille Endowment, created with the Jefferson County Community Foundation in 2008 in honor of the former longtime board member, historical society president and historical preservation advocate.
Interest from the endowment is designated for the support of the new research center, which is next door to the original facility at 13692 Airport Cutoff Road.
The 8,700-square-foot addition more than quadruples the space of the original building, allowing for the storage and retrieval of documents and artifacts that were stored in several places.
Staff members are now in the process of assembling all of the museum’s resources into one place.
Tennent said the endowment fund contained about $67,000 prior to the contribution.
Generated funds are determined by market rates, but Tennent said he expected the contribution to provide an additional $10,000 annually from the endowment.
He said the funds would pay for maintenance, support services, computer equipment and the electric bill, among other needs.
“Receiving this gift goes towards ensuring that the Jefferson County Historical Society Research Center will be here for future generations,” Tennent said.
Grants and private donations funded the new $1.6 million two-story building.
The main room, which formerly housed the collections, now resembles a library reading room where researchers have the room to sit and study the retrieved material.
Once all the archives are assembled, the research center plans to hold a grand opening that will probably take place in the spring, Tennent said.
The original research center opened in 2003 in a converted church and was quickly filled to capacity, the historical society said.
The society has about a half-million documents, 20,000 photographs and 15,000 artifacts that are available to the public.
Written, video and audio oral histories are in the collection.
Many of the artifacts were stored at Fort Worden State Park.
The Jefferson County Genealogical Society has also been given more space in a corner of the reading room of the original building.
The research center is closed now during the last two weeks of December.
Its 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.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
