The society will move its extensive archives into part of the lower level of the library, where it will be available to the public during library hours.

In exchange, the society will hire an architect and renovate the entire lower level for an estimated $100,000. The county will provide no money for the renovation, and the space should be ready in about a year.

"It's a very logical fit. The society is in the same sort of information business as we are," said Rita Gale, public services administrator for Montgomery County Public Libraries.

The society's collection resides in private homes in Chevy Chase Village, where volunteers have been collecting material for two decades.

"We are very pleased to be going in the community facility, where we will represent the entire community, not just Chevy Chase Village," said Joan Marsh, a village resident who is the society's volunteer archivist.

The archives include about 2,000 photos going back to the beginning of Chevy Chase in the 1890s; more than 80 books of regional interest; and a mountain of maps, exhibits, news clippings, land grants, and historical data on individual homes.

There are numerous oral histories taken from longtime residents who recorded recollections of the earliest years of Chevy Chase.

Early residents such as Edith Jarvis, the Northrups and the Glassies told their stories. "We tried to catch them before they passed away," Marsh said.

Marsh said primary users of the archives have been scholars, people doing research, and families interested in genealogy.

Marsh said the society searched for years for a permanent home without finding one. The library is the perfect solution, she said, because the material will be available to the widest public.

Mary Anne Tuohey, a village resident who founded the historical society in 1980, said she created the organization after realizing no one was keeping track of historical materials floating around the community.

The group has about 200 members who pay $15 in yearly dues, meet twice a year, and publish a quarterly newsletter.

Donations for the renovation can be sent to Chevy Chase Historical Society, Box 15145, Chevy Chase, MD 20825.