Abstract
In this interview, Marguerite Appleton discusses her father, John Howard Appleton, a Brown chemistry professor; her reasons for choosing Brown; the abolition of the sorority system by Dean Lida Shaw King and the role of the Student Government Association in it. Her sisters’ sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta; athletics including bowling; traditions such as Sophomore Masque, Ivy Day, and Commencement; other social activities, including dances and Komian plays; Her life after college includes teaching at the Lincoln School and Wheaton College; returning to Brown for a Ph.D. in history, leading a Girl Scout troop.
Recorded on January 1, 1981
Interviewed by Barbara Raab
Suggested Chicago style citation: Appleton, Marguerite. Interview. By Barbara Raab. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. January 1, 1981.
Biography
Marguerite Appleton was the daughter of a Brown University chemistry professor. After attending Hope High School, she followed her two older sisters to Pembroke College where she received her A.B in 1914. After beginning a career in teaching, she went back to Pembroke to receive a Master’s degree. Later she finished her doctorate in history at Pembroke with a dissertation on “Rhode Island’s First Court of Admiralty Southworth.” Appleton taught history at Wellesley College, (MA) Lindenwood College, (MO); and Grove City College (PA). She authored “A Portrait Album of Four Rhode Islanders,” “A History of the First Baptist Church,” “A History of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America,” and “A History of the Handicraft Club.” She contributed articles to the Dictionary of American Biography and the New England Quarterly. Miss Appleton lived to 102 years of age. She died in Providence on October 24, 1994.