Collection is open for research.
Gift of Chapter AV of P.E.O., May 2025 (RL2025-046).
Philanthropic Educational Organization Sisterhood (usually abbreviated as P.E.O. Sisterhood) is a nonprofit women's organization that supports women's education. It was founded in 1869 at Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The first Oregon chapter of the organization was formed in Portland in August 1905.
Sources: "About" and "History" pages on the P.E.O. website (accessed December 2025),
Portland, Oregon, Council of P.E.O. Sisterhood tea and luncheon event records, Coll 1114, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was processed in December 2025 by Jeffrey Hayes. During processing, reports were removed from plastic covers and bindings and placed in folded sheets of acid-free paper for preservation purposes.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to the P.E.O. Sisterhood in Oregon include a vertical file, Societies - Oregon P.E.O. Sisterhood, and a book, "Yesterdays - Today - Tomorrows: A Brief History of P.E.O. in Oregon," by Lloyd JoAnn King (call number 305.4 K53y).
The collection consists of records and ephemera for Education Day teas from 1969 to 1979 and the 1970 Founders' Day Luncheon organized by the Portland, Oregon, Council of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) Sisterhood. Records consist of reports for each event, generally followed by examples of invitations for the event; newspaper clippings about the event; and correspondence, receipts, or other materials relating to the event. The front page of most reports lists the names and chapter affiliations of the planning committee members. The report for the 1977 Education Day Tea includes a typed letter from Margaret Sell to that year's guest speaker, former U.S. Representative Edith Green, and a handwritten reply from Green.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.