Portland Historical Society Reviews

Really great place for visitors to learn a little about Oregon. They had an excellent exhibit featuring the struggle for black equality.

Very nice displays showing different time periods of Oregon's habitation.

Definitely coming back, had alot of fun! Such a pleasant place

Fun to see and fun to learn... must see at lease one.

So many wonderful things to see. So many lovely quotes to read. Better than I can even rate.

So great! A must see! Get to know your city and region!! The section on gentrification is surprising clear eyed, w multiple perspectives.

Much smaller than I expected; what they have is well done.

Definitely beat my expectations. I received some serious inspiration in this museum. I am simply amazed by how few people were there! That was the lamest part of it all - Portland has this truly amazing museum and so few people were there...is something wrong with their marketing or something?? Just before this I saw some gardens that are really famous, but I was more inspired and impacted by the museum (even though FAR more people were at the gardens). But in a way I was happy so few people were there - I had a more relaxing visit that way. Thank you for providing this wonderful, wonderful museum! SOOO interesting!!

I will be attending the screening of "Priced Out" tomorrow at 7pm and look forward to an excellent public conversation with director Cornelius Swart and Karen Gibson of Portland State University in the question and answer forum after the movie. I am super grateful to the Oregonian Historical Society for hosting this event and have shared the news of timely event on Social Media. *****TEN STARS*****

This museum is the best, filled with objects from the Native American and European people. Great history!

I had a free ticket and went with a friend. It was a Saturday (Smithsonian Saturday), so busier than usual. Honestly, it was boring. The guy at the front desk was rude and slow. He looked like he needed some extra help/support but he was all by himself.

The Kennedy exhibit didn't adequately cover his assassination, which is the most interesting part.

I'm an Oregonian, do I have to give it 5 stars. Seriously though, the OHS provides an in-depth look at Oregon's past and present. Visiting exhibits can be pretty random, but almost always interesting.

A (TRUE) breathtaking museum in which nothing is missing.
Time flies while you wander among the many exhibits exhibited with expertise and warmth.
The bulletin boards, one more interesting than the other, arouse curiosity in the user, fueling the desire to know more about the past.
I really appreciated it.
RECOMMENDED.
Gianmarco Groppelli: poet-writer-novelist-movies reviewer.

Good museum. It is kind of small, but it's cheap, only 10 bucks. They also skimp out on the WW2 exhibit, a very important time. Good artifacts selection.

Really great place to stop by if you want to learn about the history of Oregon. Well designed exhibits that are very interesting. When we were here they had an exhibition on Kennedy. In the words of our greeter: "the connections to Oregon are...vague" but it was still fun to learn about all the same. Good way to spend an hour or two and they've got a nice gift store as well. We parked on the street right outside and paid at the meter

You learn history here. This building also has a meeting room for a discussion with around 20 person.

Informative content that covers a wide variety or modern Oregon cultures

I think the Experience Oregon exhibit hits it out of the park. Well done. I went there today for the first time, and it is clear I will need to go back at least 10 times to really absorb it all. This is without question, the best permanent exhibit I have seen at OHS in over 20 years.

Great place to spend an hour or so. A little too heavy on the victimization and marginalization BS. In the grand scheme of history, nobody will care if your feelings were hurt. I think they should really accentuate the Lewis and Clark expedition. I ve been to museums in Pittsburgh and Charlottesville that did a better job.

On our vacation we went here and very nice but had areas closed off so could not see all.

Lots of great exhibits. Knowledgeable staff here. Great way to spend a rainy day

The exhibits are ok but I got in trouble for taking a photo on my phone and the attendant demanded that I delete it. Some museums and galleries don't have a problem with it and I didn't see any signs saying no photography. Also we knew that it closed at 5pm but felt pressured to leave at 4.50pm when we were enjoying the exhibits near the exit.

They recently updated the permanent exhibit of the history of Oregon with some hi-tech equipment - a once great exhibit is now made even better! The Oregon Historical Society has a great gift shop and seasonal exhibits too. From the Beatles in Oregon to its long and surprising craft beer history, I ve always enjoyed the time spent in this museum. If you like museums you ll enjoy this one and learn a lot.

In general the whole city of Portland seemed wonderful to me. It's been a few days that I've arrived here and everything has pleased me. From its friendly population to its great stately buildings, passing through its beautiful parks and exquisite cuisine.
The museum completed this idea by providing in-depth knowledge of its origins, legends and history, also extremely interesting.
I hope to continue walking through these streets that at every step, pleasantly surprise.
Welcome to Portland !!!

Great overview of Oregon history
The permanent exhibit covering the history of Oregon is quite well done. They also have numerous changing exhibits. Although it is not the largest museum, it is worth visiting.

So kind people, they have a summer kitchen now at patio. Wich make it a more complete place to visit. So good experience!!!

The Oregon My Oregon permanent exhibition covers all the highlights of Oregon history and is well put together. The other exhibition in the basement was confusing: it's not obvious where to go, what the story is, and overall it left me quite disoriented.

This place was awesome, albeit I was there for a special event. Walked through the exhibits and they were pretty cool. I will totally go back.

Great history museum. Explains how the state become to be really well. The JFK exhibition was fantastic. As a Londoner, coming from a city that has some of the best museums, this place is up there.

As a foreigner it's always really sad to read about USA history, with all they fears. But as a museum it is really interactive and show pieces of the history that they're not really common. Have an amazing and interactive hub on the basement which it talks about respect and been inclusive and is really interactive for kids. By the time they have JFK temporary exposicion and it was interesting. Specially the EXCCOM game.

Interesting exhibits on OSU and black history in Portland.

Delightful experience. The museum is bigger than I thought, with lots of interactive displays. You will come away knowing a lot more about Oregon history then you realized was possible.

Well there are some interesting things here. Not very many. Spent about 40 minutes - 10 minutes were pretty interesting. Kinda. Shrug. Not my thing.

Wonderful opportunity to share family history of my great great grandfather James Terwilliger and arrange to donate family stories and treasures to the society before I get any older.
Michael Terwilliger Rogers Lake

It was interesting and nice to see. I enjoyed my visit.

Every person should visit. Much more than you think.

This museum has plenty of diverse exhibits, about half of which are directly related to Oregon history. The setup is pretty convoluted, but wandering around is half the fun.

Rad and inexpensive museum. Cool if you're into local history.

Our first visit and definitely won't be our last. Really great museum filled with Oregon history .

This place is so cool! I've lived in Oregon my entire life and so I'm proud of my heritage. The historical exhibit was very informative and lots of fun! The kids liked the history hub. There were lots of have on activities both my 13 and 5 year olds loved it. Definitely will come again!

I had a nice little walkabout getting a very broad overview of the history of Oregon considering most of what I knew was from playing Oregon Trail as a kid.

The main exhibit upstairs was lovely and I enjoyed seeing things of shared history between Oregon and Canada as the Hudson's Bay Company was very prominent where I am from and also helped shape history here in Alberta. Seeing the little relics like the turkey platter and stovepipe hat (my favourite for some reason) helped humanize the folks that came over and make it feel more relatable, even though it was very recent history.

The Portland Penny was a bonus! I adore that it was kept and preserved. I also enjoyed the nautical history that was covered like the little terrestrial globe, and, of course, the more modern history of automobiles and Nike.

The Greatest Photographs of the American West exhibit was also a treat as I recognized some and again, it showed a lot of that shared history between the American and Canadian West.

Not enough about people, who developed Portland. Need to put in a display about Chinatown. Tell on the brothels, opium dens, Shanghai alleys. About the super wealthy and how they lived. This place was super boring.

Nice place to learn about Portland, and Oregon. its for free for Multnomah county residents, just make sure to show them your state ID..

Disappointing. Much of it is closed for construction.

I was blown away by the professional experience of the curators and knowledgeable staff. The site contains information about Oregon's history ranging from the Oregon Natives, the Westward expansion of the pioneers, to World War II to today's contemporary art.

Went here when I was little, I would say pretty interesting

This place is great and the kids were entertained as well!

Always informative, concise exhibits. There's usually something new and the gift shop is always fun to peruse. This time I got to learn about the history of the Oregon Humane society, and of beer. Both quite fascinating.

Free museums are always lovely, but they could definitely do more and better here. Some "exhibits" consist of a few desultory and disordered roll-up posters in makeshift hallway spaces. Hopefully they'll improve.

An awesome place to learn about the history of Portland and Oregon at large.

Attended lunar new year's event. Fun event, and free too boot.

Cool little museum to spend a couple hours, with 3 floors of exhibits, including the newest "Experience Oregon." The hands-on area is geared more towards children around 7 years or older, but our little one enjoyed walking around seeing the sights for a bit, too.

I understand the history of Oregon.
Because the underground exhibition room is easy to understand English, it is okay for Japanese.

Friendly staff, we were there during renovation of the main exhibit so we did not get the entire experience. The exhibits that were open provided us with insight in Oregon's history which us east coasters had no idea about.

Small exhibit celebrating 150 year history of Lincoln HS. Pictures and memorabilia. This exhibit illustrates the indelible links forged between the Portland community and its educational institutions. Whether you graduated from Lincoln High or another institution, the exhibit will engage visitors with its exploration of education through Portland s history.
Exhibit ends June 30 2019, so don't miss it.

This is a great view into Oregonian history. Wish I had a few hours to explore it!

We were looking for particular photos in the research library, and found some intriguing information along with several photos.

This place has a ton of information on a variety of topics related to Oregon. It was somewhere I'd like to go back to and visit again when I have more time. I recommend going for learning &/or nostalgia.

I never realized this was a full fledged Oregon history museum. Masterfully curated, it takes you through all these aspects of Oregon history that are quite profound. It's a real treasure for us Oregonians and should be great for anyone who enjoys history and museums.

The park bench was a little wet so I had to smoke while pushing my bike,otherwise i would have given it a 5 star!!!

Oregon history is fraught with racism and this museum addresses those issues very well.

Small and friendly staff. They had interesting displays

A small museum, but worth the time. The Oregon display is very interesting and gives you a sense of the state's history. They have spent a lot of time and effort and it is very much appreciated

The museum would be more appropriately named the "Oregon Racism Museum". Doing so would properly frame the nature of the exhibits, which deal pretty comprehensively with the role that discrimination played in Oregon's history. What is absent, however, is a more general and constructive treatment of the state's varied background. An example of the museum's focus is the long video about how the construction of the dam that submerged Celilo falls impacted the Indian tribe that had fished there for generations. But there is no information on the dam itself, why the authorities chose to devote enormous resources to its constructions, how the clean energy that it generates is even more relevant today, and other considerations. In summary, the visitor walks away from the museum better informed about some of the state's racist warts, but no more educated about the state's innumerable other historical facets than when they walked in.