Abstract
In Part 1 of this interview, Rose Roberta Traurig describes her family, from Waterbury, Connecticut, and the high value they placed on education. At Pembroke College, Rose’s first dorm was Angell House, and she talks about entertaining guests there on weekends. She mentions that while she and her family never distinguished between Jews and Christians, Jewish girls were never invited to the parties held by the men. There were no sororities, but Traurig had a tight group of friends including Joan Aschiem Biel and Eleanor Lenore Post. Biel was the first of the class to marry and her daughter, Peggy-Ann, was the class baby.
Traurig discusses the relationship Dean Margaret Shove Morriss had with the students. She tells a memorable story about having to make up four years of her gym requirement in one semester and talks about the coeducational experience between Pembroke and Brown. Traurig majored in Sociology and was employed at Lord and Taylor after graduation until the Great Depression, when she was brought into the family business, Waterbury Title Company.
In Part 2, Traurig talks about her Spanish class with Professor Johnson. She returns to the subject of her family and says that while they all knew how to enjoy life, her father also taught all of of his children the importance of being charitable. She explains that she doesn’t visit the Brown Campus anymore because she doesn’t like change.
Part 1
Part 2
Recorded on May 20, 1986 in Waterbury, CT
Interviewed by Dian Gillmar
Suggested Chicago style citation: Traurig, Rose Roberta. Interview. By Dian Gillmar. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. May 20, 1986.
Biography
Rose Roberta Traurig was born May 3, 1905 in Waterbury, CT to William Tobias and Nettie Raydner Traurig, the youngest of seven children. After graduating from Pembroke College in 1928, she worked as a buyer at Lord and Taylor in New York. At the onset of the Great Depression, Rose returned home and worked with her family in the Waterbury Title Company until retirement. Rose Traurig passed away on November 30, 1993.