Abstract
In this interview, Ferguson tells why she chose to attend Pembroke College over Wellesley College; how following a woman she admired, she wanted to become a Boston insurance agent; and that she never felt she needed to be liberated. She discusses the remnants of Victorianism; marching for suffrage before age ten, and always having had a female doctor. She recalls the rules and regulations of Pembroke; mandatory chapel and the speeches given by Deans Allinson and Morriss; and the Brown/Pembroke merger which she opposed. Ferguson recalls living in New York and Washington—where her husband worked for the government; the stock market Crash of 1929; living through the Depression, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and her activity in various clubs and groups. Ferguson speaks of her time as the alumnae president; her daughter’s time at Pembroke during the early 1950s; her mistrust of the Brown Daily Herald; and the values instilled in her from Pembroke.
Part 1
Part 2
Suggested Chicago style citation: Ferguson, Charlotte. Interview. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University.
Biography
Charlotte Ferguson attended the girls’ Latin School in Boston before enrolling in Pembroke College, where she graduated in 1924 as class president. She had one daughter, Deborah Rodes, who attended Pembroke and graduated in 1953. Ferguson was active in many organizations in New England and worked for the Girl Scouts Organization as part of the National Council. She died on June 11, 1985.