The Library offers passes for free or discounted admission to many local and regional museums and other attractions. For most of these, you can make a reservation online and pick your pass up in the library.

We're thrilled to add two new offerings to our list of Museums & More! Note that neither of these can be reserved online. Call our Reference Desk at 603-766-1720 to find out more!

PORT CITY MAKERSPACE. Portsmouth. portcitymakerspace.com
The library has three passes per month, providing a $20 discount off of one class. Each person will be limited to two passes per person per year. You must register for your class in the library, using the discount code. Visit the Reference Desk to reserve.

SEACOAST REPERTORY THEATRE. Portsmouth. seacoastrep.org
The library has one pass for each mainstage performance, which admits two persons for free! Please call us at 603-766-1720 to check on ticket availability and reserve yours today. 

To see all the passes we offer, including the Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, and Aquarium in Boston; and Strawbery Banke, the Seacoast Science Center, and the Children's Museum here in Portsmouth; visit cityofportsmouth.com/library/museums-more!

Check out a box of eclectic, inspiring objects. Create a work of art. Display it in the library!

Help us create a community art exhibit! Ever think about sharing your art with the public?

Check out one of our art boxes – you will find a variety of interesting items to spark your creativity. Pick a theme – Tentacles or Teacups – and create a work of art!

Each box contains 9 objects + a piece of fabric. Set up your still life, choose your medium (art supplies provided by you), and take two weeks to paint, draw, stitch, sew, print, photograph, etch, etc.!

If you are inclined, submit your work of art in April of 2021 to be included in our group art exhibit during the month of May 2021 in the Levenson Room.

Guidelines and submission forms may be found inside the ART BOX. To check out an art box for adults, visit the library’s Reference Desk. To check out an art box for kids & families, visit the Youth Services Desk.

Questions? Contact the Reference Desk at 603-766-1720.

Live Guitar Performances
at Portsmouth Public Library & Portsmouth Music and Arts Center
Sundays, 3 PM

This year, the Portsmouth Public Library and PMAC (Portsmouth Music and Arts Center), in association with the Boston Classical Guitar Society, will continue their series of live guitar performances called Guitar Sundays, produced and curated by Mitch Shuldman. These free concerts will be held at 3 PM, one Sunday per month, alternating locations between the Levenson Room at the Portsmouth Public Library and the Haas Family Gallery and Recital Hall at PMAC.

Drawing from a rich selection of guitar talent from both New Hampshire and the greater Boston area, the series of recitals will highlight the versatility and range of the guitar from classical to jazz to acoustic.

March 1 @ PMAC
David William Ross, Classical Guitar
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April 5 @ Portsmouth Public Library
Bokyung Byun, Classical Guitar
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May 31 @ PMAC
The Hampton Trio, Classical Guitar, Mandolin and Mandola
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Find out more at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/guitarsundays.

The Winter Tea Talk Series, presented by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire in partnership with the Portsmouth Public Library and Temple Israel, is a series of participatory lectures related to New Hampshire’s Black history and African American culture.

Four of these Talks will be held at the Portsmouth Public Library, Levenson Room, 175 Parrot Avenue, Portsmouth, NH. The others will be held at Temple Israel, 200 State St., Portsmouth NH

All talks are from 2 – 4 pm. In case of inclement weather, a canceled talk will be rescheduled for March 15 or March 22.

These events are Free and open to the public.

Here are the March talks! For full descriptions and biographies, please visit blackheritagetrailnh.org/tea-talks.

Sunday March 1
Racism without Racists: Educating Generations Past & Future
Presenters: Kabria Baumgartner, Mabelle Barnette, Liz Canada, Elizabeth Dubrulle
Location: Portsmouth Public Library, Levenson Room

Sunday March 8
New Voices: Our Beliefs, Our Reality
Presenters: Funmi Oyekunle, Carlos Cardona, Courtney Dalbec, Jordan Thompson
Location: Temple Israel, 200 State St., Portsmouth

For full descriptions and biographies, please visit blackheritagetrailnh.org/tea-talks.

Sundays 1:30 – 4:30
Tuesdays 1:30 – 5:30
February 2 – April 14

Closed Sundays March 15 and April 12!

This service is offered to taxpayers with low and moderate income, with special consideration given to those age 60 and older. The program is run by trained and certified volunteers.

Please bring the following, if applicable:

• W-2 forms;
• unemployment compensation statements;
• all 1099 forms (1099-INT, 1099-R, 1099-Misc, etc.);
• dependent care provider information;
• receipts or canceled checks if itemizing deductions;
• Social Security cards for yourself and all dependents. 

Dial 2-1-1 or visit nhtaxhelp.org to schedule an appointment with the NH Tax Line. Walk-ins also welcome.

For more information visit aarp.org/taxaide.

The city of Portsmouth is on the homelands of the Abenaki people, who have ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this area. According to Tribal oral tradition, Abenaki people have lived in the place now called New Hampshire for more than 12,000 years—since before Tribal memory. The Abenaki are part of a larger group of Indigenous people who called themselves Wabanaki or “People of the Dawn,” and form one of many communities connected by a common Algonquian language family. To honor this history, in 2020 Portsmouth Public Library will begin hosting a monthly series of Indigenous Stories, featuring speakers on Indigenous culture, history and perspectives. This series is cosponsored by Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth 400 and the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective, and is free and open to all!

Unfortunately, this month's program on Abenaki Horticulture & Garden Forestry is full - no more spots are available. But we're pleased to announce our spring lineup below! Please visit cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/indigenous to register.

Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective
Dr. Svetlana Peshkova and others
Monday April 13 | 6:30 PM
A collaboration among University of New Hampshire faculty and staff; Indigenous UNH staff, faculty, and students; student volunteers and interns; community volunteers and activists; and Tribal leaders of NH, the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective is a long-term project with the purpose of reframing New Hampshire’s history from an Indigenous perspective. Dr. Svetlana Peshkova, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Core Faculty Member of UNH’s Women’s Studies Program, will present along with other members of the collective. They will discuss the community-based collaborative work they do with indigenous and non-indigenous community members to create a decolonial narrative of the history (past and present). They will describe an equatable community-building that recognizes contributions of indigenous peoples as important and foundational threads of the social fabric, in this state and other parts of this country and continent, and elsewhere in the world. They share their experiences in the hope that local communities can replicate these efforts.

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Justice for the People of the First Light:
Colonial Treaties to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People
Charles Doleac
Wednesday May 27 | 6:30 PM
In 2013, the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth Tricentennial Committee, chaired by Charles B. Doleac, formed to explore the early history of the English and French relations with the Wabanaki and the nuanced diplomacy employed by the Wabanaki and English in this first encounter treaty. Attorney Doleac led the organization of the year's 300th anniversary programs included presentations by consulting Wabanaki and colonial historians, the creation of an exhibit, “The 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth: First Nations Diplomacy Opens the Portsmouth Door” and a website, 1713TreatyofPortsmouth.org. The committee fostered further research with Wabanaki leaders, scholars, and colonial and legal experts that led to website additions and a touring program, “Justice for the People of the First Light: Colonial Treaties to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People.”

This program examines the diplomacy of the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth from both sides to understand what went right and what went wrong between the English and French settlers and the Wabanaki in this first encounter period. The program also acknowledges the injustices suffered by the Wabanaki in the context of the UN Declaration and and looks for opportunities for citizen involvement in reconciliation efforts.

Mr. Doleac is senior partner at the Portsmouth law firm of Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott, P.A., is a Superior Court Mediator and is chair of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum of Portsmouth.

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Stay tuned for more events in this series!

Tuesdays March 3, March 24 & April 7
7 – 8:30 PM

The library’s Local History series features authors and experts on local history topics. In March and April, we present a special partner series with the Albacore Park Museum!

Stark Decency: New Hampshire’s World War II German Prisoner of War Camp
with Allen Koop
Tuesday March 3
During WWII, 300 German prisoners of war were held at Camp Stark near the village of Stark in New Hampshire’s North Country. German combat veterans and the citizens of the small New Hampshire logging town were forced to confront their prejudices and fears and examine the merits and flaws of their ideologies. In their rural isolation, sharing harsh weather conditions and the pinch of wartime rationing, an astonishing thing happened: friendships began to develop. Allen Koop reveals the history of this camp, which tells us much about our country’s war experience and about our state. View this event on Facebook!

The Loss of the USS Indianapolis
with Bob Begin
Tuesday March 24
In July 1945, the USS Indianapolis was assigned the Top Secret mission to deliver an atomic bomb to Tinian Island. This was the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. Once the mission had been completed, the Indianapolis was torpedoed on her starboard side by a Japanese submarine. Approximately 900 men went into the water that night. Due to a series of blunders, the wreck would remain undiscovered for nearly five days and only 316 would survive the harrowing experience. Bob Begin will detail the events before, during, and after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, including the courts-marshalling of the ship’s Captain, Charles B. McVay III. This is an incredible story of loss due to a breakdown of order and discipline. View this event on Facebook!

32 in ’44:  Building the Portsmouth Submarine Fleet in World War II
with Rodney Watterson
Tuesday April 7
During the 1930s, the Portsmouth Navy Yard was capable of completing less than two submarines in a year. In 1944, workers completed an astonishing thirty-two submarines, with four launched in a single day! Between 1941 and 1945, the yard built seventy-nine submarines, a fleet that collectively sank over one third of the Japanese shipping sunk by the United States. Rodney Watterson will discuss how the Portsmouth Navy Yard transformed into a mass-production operation that contributed so greatly to the winning of the war. View this event on Facebook!

Find out more about the presenters at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/albacore.

In conjunction with the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Public Library hosts speakers on global issues. This series is FREE and open to the public. Come and learn more about the world at PPL!

World Affairs at the Library: A Bright Future
with Joshua Goldstein
Tuesday March 10 | 11 AM

Joshua Goldstein, an award-winning scholar of international relations, will speak about his new book A Bright Future (with Staffan Qvist), which focuses on international responses to climate change, especially Sweden's success in rapid decarbonization using nuclear power. Books will be available for purchase. Find out more at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/brightfuture. Or view this event on Facebook!

World Affairs at the Library: China
with Dr. Robert Spalding
Monday March 23 | 6 PM

Dr. Robert S. Spalding III, a national security policy strategist, and globally recognized for his knowledge of Chinese economic competition and influence, as well as for his ability to forecast global trends and develop innovative solutions, will speak on China. Find out more at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/china. Or view this event on Facebook!

Saturday March 14
2 – 4 PM

Come Create! Workshops are offered by Portsmouth Poet Laureate Tammi Truax. Learn traditional Japanese poetry and art forms from local writers and artists. This program is co-sponsored by the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, as part of a project of building a bridge to Japan.

At the first workshop, poets Tammi Truax and Mark DeCarteret will lead participants in an exploration of the traditional Japanese poetry forms of haiku, senryu, renga and haibun, while painter Grace Gordon will lead experimentation with traditional cherry blossom painting!

Free and open to all adults and kids ages 10+. Registration required. Please visit cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/comecreate to find out more and register.

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Hoping to learn a new skill? Looking for affordable ways to make or mend the things you need? Wish you had more crafting or technology gear to play with? Look no further than The Workshop at Portsmouth Public Library. The Workshop is a space for learning, crafting, making, mending and experimenting for all ages.We're offering different classes every month.

Intro to Embroidery
Tuesday March 10 | 6:30 – 8 PM
Create a floral or abstract design in this embroidery basics class. You’ll learn several basic stitches, handy tips and tricks, and how to plan and create an embroidered design. The library will provide all the materials you need. Adults and kids ages 10+. Space is limited – registration is required! Visit cityofportsmouth.com/library/theworkshop to register.

Drop-In Mending
Tuesday March 24 | 6 – 8 PM
Is your favorite item of clothing just sitting in a box due to a missing button, small hole, or torn hem? You won’t believe how awesome it feels to mend it yourself. Drop in any time between 6 and 8 PM for Open Mending with library staff, and bring your clothing in need of help. We’ll have supplies, and we’ll get you started with simple mending techniques you can learn quickly. Adults and kids ages 10+. No registration needed – drop in!

All attendees must have a safety waiver signed by an adult.

Saturday March 21
10 AM – 12 PM

Drink coffee, eat cake, and discuss your inevitable demise. It’s the Death Café!

Meet others in a supportive environment to discuss thoughts, feelings, and experiences with death—without the awkwardness often associated with the topic. Discussing death helps us make the most of our (finite) lives.

Free and open to the public, though space is limited. RSVP to Hospice Help Foundation, at 603-766-0444 or marsha@hhelpfoundation.org.

Co-sponsored by Hospice Help Foundation and Portsmouth Public Library.

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Presented by the library’s Special Collections staff and members of the Ranger Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), these events are free, open to the public, and appropriate for all levels of interest and experience. All levels will learn something new! We hope you will join us on the third Sunday each month.

Spinning Gold: Shaping Your Family Research into Compelling Stories
with Christine Halvorson
Sunday March 15 | 2 PM | Hilton Garden Room

Local author Chris Halvorson hopes this lecture and workshop will inspire attendees to dust off their boxes of family memorabilia and start mining them for golden stories—true or not. Attendees are encouraged to bring one memorabilia item or a significant photograph from their family to help in the afternoon’s discussion. Last fall, Halvorson published a young adult novel, “Inmate,” that is very loosely based on her family. She will focus on that book’s genesis, which was her curiosity about the technology behind such websites as ancestry.com.

“I had zero interest in researching my family. None,” she explains. “But my husband was researching his, and I was just fascinated by how all that data was inter-linked."

Halvorson will share her research process, the mistakes she’s made, and a bit about the story-writing process. “The work that goes into genealogical research so often never sees the light of day beyond, maybe, family members,” she said. “Every family has secrets and stories to tell. It’s a shame to let them molder unseen."

And don't miss next month's workshop...

A Closer Look at Vital Records
with Robert Cameron Weir
Sunday April 19 | 2 PM | Levenson Room

Find out more at cityofportsmouth.com/library/genealogy.

Fierce Females in Art
Wednesday March 25
7 – 8:30 PM

Women have long been the subject of art, often depicted as nothing more than objects of desire. How do images of women change when women become the creators? This talk by Art History instructor Jane Oneail will examine the history of women in art in brief and then explore the lives, careers and works of several major women artists from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, including Artemisia Gentileschi and Mary Cassatt.

Free. Open to all. No registration necessary.

Learn more about the instructor at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/fierce.

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Saturday March 28
10 AM – 2 PM

Join us for Portsmouth Public Library’s second annual Seed Swap! Like a seed potluck, this event is for new and seasoned gardeners alike. Participants are encouraged to bring fresh seeds from their stash, or heirloom seeds that they have saved, but you’re invited to come even if you don’t have anything to bring. Either way, you’ll be able to take home something new and exciting! Co-sponsored by Seacoast Permaculture and the Piscataqua Seed Project. Free. Open to all. Drop in.

Learn about new seed varieties and how to grow them, get your garden started and save money, and find out more information about local garden organizations!

We will provide some easy-to-grow seed varieties to get you started, as well as tables, empty seed envelopes, stamps (or stickers) and bins for sorting. Staff and volunteers will sort newly arrived seeds into categories and put them out for immediate swapping. Basic growing information will be provided. All ages are welcome – the library will host a kids’ craft activity to build enthusiasm for gardening among the younger generation! 

Find out more at cityofportsmouth.com/library/news/seedswap.

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Films at the library are open to the public and FREE. Light refreshments will be served! All films will feature subtitles where possible. Find out more and see film synopses at cityofportsmouth.com/library/films.

JoJo Rabbit
Thursday March 5 | 6:30 PM

MATINEE of Downton Abbey
Thursday March 12 | 12:30 PM
2019. Rated PG. 121 minutes.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Thursday March 12 | 6:30 PM
2020. Rated PG. 109 minutes.

Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?
Tuesday March 17 | 6:30 PM
2018. Documentary. 74 minutes. Discussion to follow, led by local resident John Werner.

Knives Out
Thursday March 19 | 6:30 PM
2020. Rated PG-13. 130 minutes.

Harriet
Thursday March 26 | 6:30 PM
2020. Rated PG-13. 125 minutes.

Monday March 30
6:30 – 8 PM

Calling all planners: join the Planner Society. Meet other like-minded organized, artistic folks. Bring your planner, your favorite pens, and we'll provide the rest! With regular activities celebrating all things planner. Great for adults or teens. Meets on the last Monday of every month!

This program is free and open to the public.

Saturday April 18 | 10 AM – 2 PM
Connie Bean Center

All sizes. All genders. All ages. All seasons.

Bring a bag of gently used items and leave with a bag of new-to-you clothing, shoes and accessories.

Please give more than you take!

Free and open to all!

NEW THIS YEAR: A special plus-size section!

And back by popular demand: music by DJ Skooch!

Brought to you by Portsmouth Public Library, Recovergirl and Goodwill Northern New England. Donations by Eloquii.

Featured model: Emma Simpson-Tucker

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The library offers three monthly book discussion groups for adults: Fiction, Nonfiction (with seasonal themes), and Speculative Fiction! All are welcome. Books are available for checkout with your PPL card.

Fiction Book Discussion

The library's Fiction Book Club meets the second Monday each month at 1 PM and 7 PM at the library. 

March 9 - Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

In Ruskovich’s beautifully constructed debut novel, Ann attempts to piece together her husband Wade’s past—namely, the murder of his younger daughter, May, by his ex-wife, Jenny, and the disappearance of his elder daughter, June, which took place years ago, on the mountain where Wade and Ann now live. The book is set in the alluring and haunting landscape of Idaho, spanning over 50 years…

Nonfiction Book Discussion

Nonfiction Book Discussion meets the third Tuesday each month at 7 PM at the library. Nonfiction Book Club takes on seasonal themes. January – March, we’ll explore the 1920s, and beginning in April, we will read three months of LGBTQ+ memoirs!

March 17 - Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns

When Paul Barnes suggested that Elizabeth Cady Stanton be included in the film portraits of notable Americans that Ken Burns was planning to make, Burns barely recognized the name. Marginally more familiar was that of Susan B. Anthony, Stanton's comrade-in-arms in the struggle for women's suffrage. But as this book splendidly reveals, theirs is the story not merely of two remarkable 19th-century women but of a major political movement, the end of which has yet to be written.

Speculative Fiction Book Discussion

The Speculative Fiction Book Group meets on the final Tuesday of each month at Popovers on the Square. Spec Fic is a genre that encompasses fantasy, science fiction, horror and everything in between. Speculative fiction asks, what if?

March 31 - Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

As the novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born. He stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle. Meanwhile, far away and in the kitchen, a servant named Steerpike escapes his drudgework and begins an auspicious ascent to power.Inside of Gormenghast, all events are predetermined by complex rituals, the origins of which are lost in time. The castle is peopled by dark characters in half-lit corridors. Dreamlike and macabre, Peake's extraordinary novel is one of the most astonishing and fantastic works in modern fiction.

Mondays 6 - 6:45 PM
Wednesdays 12:15 - 1 PM

Did you know the library offers weekly drop-in meditation? We offer many formats from many traditions, with experienced local teachers, and every sit is appropriate for beginners or seasoned meditators. If you're hoping for a refreshed perspective, or to learn how mindfulness can improve your quality of life, drop by any Monday or Wednesday to meditate with us. 

Find out more about the program and facilitators at cityofportsmouth.com/library/weekly-meditation.