Did you know the house of the first president of Brown University lies under what is today the Quiet Green? That the statue currently in front of the Ratty has lost his arm — twice? That a network of secret tunnels connects the Rockefeller Library to Carrie Tower?

To commemorate the University’s 250th anniversary, the course “25 Things! 250 Years of Brown’s Material Past”, offered by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World in Spring 2014, explored objects from Brown’s material past (art works, maps, trees, dining hall trays), using perspectives from a wide variety of disciplines, humanistic and scientific.

The entries featured on this blog introduce the 25 objects selected by the students in that class to tell stories of both Brown’s history, and its future.

Click HERE to access all student blog posts.