Barbara Roberts Video Gallery

Barbara Roberts was elected Governor of Oregon in November 1990. She was the first woman governor of the state and one of the first ten women to be state governors in the United States. Her political platform stood on her advocacy for human rights and civil rights, environmental management, and redevelopment of the Oregon economy as the state’s population grew and its major industry, lumber, was in transition. Roberts is nationally recognized for innovations in government planning and redesign during her governorship.

Once elected, Roberts was immediately called to make hard decisions about the state’s tax system and expenses after voters approved Measure 5, an initiative which limited property tax revenue. Throughout a difficult restructuring process, Roberts sought to communicate her plans and goals to all Oregonians and to incorporate citizens’ input into the discussion.

This collection of video recordings includes many of her official speeches as Oregon’s chief executive, including inaugural and State of the State addresses. These and her keynote speeches to civic organizations demonstrate her leadership and determination to solve the issues that profoundly affected the lives, livelihoods, and basic rights of Oregonians.

This collection also contains dialogues with constituents Roberts held on live television. In these appearances, she showed dedication to service, transparency, and engagement, and conveyed her respect for and trust in the citizens she served.

More of Governor Roberts' key public speeches are collected in her book, A Voice For Equity.

These recordings were digitally transferred from VHS cassettes in the Barbara Roberts Collection in Portland State University Library’s Special Collections. The complete collection includes papers related to Roberts’ political and civic life from 1978-2010. Please contact us to access this collection: specialcollections@pdx.edu.