With a typical snip of a red ribbon, state dignitaries dedicated a $5.7 million expansion to the North Dakota Heritage Center that will house the state archives.

The Friday afternoon ceremony featured Gov. John Hoeven, former governors Art Link and George Sinner, and other state officials. It took place in a library that serves as the bridge between the Heritage Center and the addition.

State Archivist Jerry Newborg said families often come to the Heritage Center seeking information about their relatives and come away with documents like marriage certificates and property deeds. The addition will make this easier and keep the records all in one place, he said.

"The archives are important because it tells us both the big picture and the little details," Newborg said. "And it tells us the story of our lives."

The state records are now stored in a warehouse in east Bismarck and at Fort Lincoln in Mandan.

"They're in very low-level storage space and deteriorating because of very poor climate controls," said state Historical Society president Albert Berger.

Berger said the records were "essentially inaccessible," but will now be more open to any member of the public who wants to use them for research.

The records are to be stored in the 30,000-square-foot addition, which features large gray concrete rooms with almost institutional fluorescent lighting. The area is specially climate controlled to make sure the paper records don't deteriorate.

Link, whose administration pioneered the idea of a Heritage Center, said the new archives will only improve the Heritage Center's role as a gateway for visitors to North Dakota.

"We bring people into the state who didn't think we existed and they leave amazed," Link said.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)