The Portland Public Library (PPL) was a short-lived but influential institution in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, United States.Gunselman, Cheryl. Pioneering Free Library Service for the City, 1864-1902: The Library Association of Portland and the Portland Public Library. ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'', September 22, 2002. Pg. 320 Vol. 103 No. 3 ISSN 0030-4727 Established in 1891 by a group including former members of the Library Association of Portland (LAP), which had run a library since 1864, the PPL succeeded in offering free service to the public without government involvement for several years. The two organizations merged in 1902, and the new organization, which became known as the

Multnomah County Library Multnomah County Library is the public library system serving Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A continuation of the Library Association of Portland, established in 1864, the system now has 19 branches offering books, magazine ...

, offered free, tax supported library services for the first time in Portland. The merger allowed the PPL's records to persist, permitting comparison of the two organizations and their respective roles in establishing the legacy of free public libraries in the Portland area. Notably, the PPL had a high degree of involvement by women, who at times held a majority of the seats on the board of trustees, and who performed fund-raising duties. The PPL is said to have had a more "democratic nature" than the better-established LAP. Prior to the merger, the two libraries existed harmoniously, serving different constituencies. The PPL was the "poor man's library" and closely adhered to the ideals of the public library movement, while the LAP served a middle-to-upper income clientele.

References

{{Authority control 1902 disestablishments in Oregon Multnomah County Library 1891 establishments in Oregon Libraries established in 1891