Circular, An Appeal to the Citizens of Portland

This circular from December 1871 advertised the efforts of the Ladies’ Relief Society to collect three thousand dollars for the construction of a shelter to care for impoverished women and children of Portland. Thirty-two elite women founded the Ladies’ Relief Society in 1867 with a mission to “relieve want and destitution where need demands.” During their first five years of charity service in the rapidly-growing city, the clubwomen identified the value of having a home to help newcomers through temporary times of hardship and to help orphaned children on a more permanent basis.

As a first step toward opening a home, the Society needed to acquire land. However, in 1871 there existed no provision in Oregon state law for a corporation entirely composed of women to own real property. Consequently, in July 1871, the women recruited five prominent Portland men to form a corporation for them, naming it “The Home.” 

The women listed at the bottom of this circular formed the Advisory Committee of the new corporation. While practical management of The Home remained with this group and others of the Ladies’ Relief Society who formed the corporation’s Executive Committee, the male members comprised the Board of Trustees and had full legal control. 

The circular, together with other fundraising efforts of the clubwomen’s, was successful. In September 1972 a shelter opened on the corner of F and 14th streets (today’s NW Flanders and NW 14th). The Home’s records indicate that first residents included a mother of two who had been “deserted by her husband,” a “widowed mother of four” who stayed during the pregnancy of her fifth child, and a pregnant woman who left The Home when her child was one month old. 

As one of the earliest women’s clubs in Portland, the Ladies’ Relief Society fulfilled an important role in the developing community—advocacy for marginalized members of society. The circular illustrates how these women, using their presumed “natural” abilities as protectors of the family, challenged gender hierarchies by becoming active and vocal influences on public opinion regarding the poor. At the same time, the elite authors of the circular reinforced class hierarchies by claiming a position of moral authority. For example, the circular lists the children of “wretched, sin-crazed women” as among those in need of help and suggests that such children be taken away from their mothers. 

Further Reading:
Haarsager, Sandra. Organized Womanhood: Cultural Politics in the Pacific Northwest: 1840-1920. Norman, Okla., 1997.

Lasser, Carol. “Beyond Separate Spheres: The Power of Public Opinion.” Journal of the Early Republic 21:1, 2001: 115-123.

Written by Sara Paulson, © Oregon Historical Society, 2006.