In celebration of the Portsmouth Free Public Library’s 125th Anniversary, Town Historian Jim Garman will talk about the Library’s long history.
The Portsmouth Free Public Library grew from a group of people called the Thursday Evening Group who met at the Guild House of St. Paul’s Church and at members’ homes to discuss literature and culture. It was proposed that a meeting be held to explore the possibility of a town library as the group had grown quite large. About fifty of Portsmouth’s influential people attended this meeting on March 18, 1897, and a charter was granted by Rhode Island Secretary of State Charles P. Bennett on March 26, 1897, to form a library “for the distribution of books and other literary purposes.”
Registration is required as space is limited.