Abstract Margery Chittenden Leonard’s 1982 interview reflects her tireless passion for the Equal Rights Amendment. While she discusses her classes at Brown and her dormitories, the majority of her oral history is dedicated to discussing the fierce discrimination women faced because of their gender, and the necessity of the Equal Rights Amendment as the only […]
1920s
Ethel Mary Humphrey, class of 1929
Abstract In Part 1 of her interview, Ethel Mary Humphrey discusses the circumstances that led her to attend Pembroke College. She talks about academics and student relationships with the deans, her involvement in the Press Club and drama productions, and coeducation. She also recalls attitudes surrounding the name change to Pembroke College, and social interactions […]
Sarah Gertrude Mazick, class of 1928
Abstract In this interview, Sarah Gertrude Mazick describes working in Providence as a teenager and her desire to attend medical school against the wishes of her mother. She shares her memories of World War I, including learning to knit, Armistice Day celebrations, and the influenza epidemic of 1918. Mazick also discusses the lack of financial […]
Rose Roberta Traurig, class of 1928
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 […]
Helen Elizabeth Butts, class of 1928
Abstract In this interview, Helen Elizabeth Butts starts by discussing life at Pembroke College, the academic arena, Silver Bay (a Christian summer conference), higher-level science classes, post-graduate life, and the career/family dichotomy. She goes on to talk about her experience with Dean Margaret Shove Morriss, marriage ideals, and transition to computer usage. Butts finishes the […]
Grace Amelia McAuslan, class of 1928
Abstract In this interview, Grace Amelia McAuslan begins by explaining why she decided to attend Pembroke College and what her first impressions were. She notes some of the courses she took as a sociology concentrator and momentarily remembers participating in the Pembroke orchestra. She shares brief memories of Dean Margaret Shove Morriss and Dean Anne […]
Eleanor Francis Sarle, class of 1928
Abstract In this interview, conducted sixty years after her graduation, Eleanor Francis Sarle, class of 1928, explains that there was never any question that she would become a school teacher and receive her education at Brown University – known then as the Women’s College at Brown University – because her father, three uncles, and cousins […]
Doris Madeline Hopkins, class of 1928
Abstract In Part 1 of this interview, Doris Madeline Hopkins begins by discussing her early education and family life in Rhode Island. She talks about the expectations for “nice girls” at Pembroke College in the 1920s, about the curriculum, and the classes she took. She talks about 1920s fashion, dancing and bootleg liquor, including clubs […]
Alice Elizabeth O’Connor, class of 1928
Abstract In Part 1 of this interview, Alice Elizabeth O’Connor begins by discussing her life growing up in East Providence and assuming guardianship of her brothers and sisters after the early deaths of her parents. She also talks about changing careers to become a social worker, the state of public welfare services, and her work […]
Mary Carpenter Emerson, class of 1927
Abstract In this interview, Mary Carpenter Emerson tells of her family’s tradition of attending Brown University, which included her mother, her maternal uncles and her maternal grandfather. Like her mother, Emerson became a science teacher, teaching biology, geometry, general science, chemistry and physics. She speaks of her early life: losing her father at age 11 […]
Marjorie Whitcomb Sallie, class of 1927
Abstract In Part 1 of this interview, Marjorie Whitcomb Sallie explains why she decided to attend Pembroke College. She says that Dean Margaret Shove Morriss was the most influential faculty member on campus and she shares some memories of their interactions. Sallie goes on to describe how she decided to concentrate in biology and also […]
Margaret Waterman, class of 1927
Abstract In this interview, Margaret Waterman discusses her decision to attend Pembroke College – known then as the Women’s College in Brown University – for one year, her transfer to Smith College, and her return to Pembroke for her senior year. She mentions medical care in the early twentieth century when she discusses her diagnoses […]
Martha Alice Ingham Dickie, class of 1926 (interview 2 of 2)
Abstract In the first part of her 1987 interview, Martha Alice Ingham Dickie discusses her family background, her life at Brown, and her social work during her time at Northwestern. Also in tracks 1 and 2, Dickie reflects on meeting her husband, Waitstill Sharp, and starting a family and ministry together while taking classes at […]
Martha Alice Ingham Dickie, class of 1926 (interview 1 of 2)
Abstract Martha Alice Ingham Dickie begins her 1985 interview discussing both her religious and academic backgrounds, elaborating on her interests in social work and international politics. These religious and intellectual values converged in 1939, when Czechoslovakia was being threatened by the Nazis and the Unitarian Churches there had been occupied. As part of the American […]
Caroline Flanders, class of 1926
Abstract In this interview, Caroline Flanders recalls telling her parents that “every girl should go to college.” Flanders reflects on her arrival at Pembroke College, taking many sociology classes on Brown’s campus, and working as a babysitter to help pay tuition. She reflects on the newfound freedom and the individualistic attitude of the “Roaring Twenties.” […]
Beatrice Elizabeth Coleman, class of 1925
Abstract In this interview, Beatrice Elizabeth Coleman discusses her career as a teacher in normal schools in North Carolina and Pennsylvania; the Black communities in Providence and at Brown and Pembroke in the early twentieth century; and her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. At the time of the interview she was 102 years old. See also: […]
Elizabeth Lee Young, class of 1924
Abstract Speaking more than sixty years after graduation, Elizabeth Lee Young begins her interview by noting her parent’s educational and career backgrounds as well as her own marriage history and family connection to Brown University. In part 1, Young explains that having attended Classical High School in Providence, Rhode Island, it was assumed that she […]
Charlotte Ferguson, class of 1924
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 […]
Ruth May Bugbee, class of 1923
Abstract In this interview, Ruth May Bugbee, remembers her father encouraging her to attend Pembroke College after high school. She recalls segregation of men and women on campus, the Maypole dance, formal gatherings in Sayles Hall, and Dean Anne Crosby Emery Allinson. She mentions her first job as a psychiatric social worker at Howard State […]
Helen Anderson Hoff, class of 1923
Abstract Helen Anderson Hoff begins her interview by discussing her childhood education in New Jersey and her family background. She explains that a high school superintendent convinced her to apply to Pembroke, making her the first person in her town to attend college. She discusses her experiences in various academic departments and her extracurricular involvement, […]
Isabel Ross Abbott, class of 1922
Abstract Isabel Ross Abbott was born on January 12, 1901 in Providence, Rhode Island, to parents of Scottish and English origins. She attended Rochambeau Avenue School and Hope High School. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. from Brown University in 1922, and received an A.M. from Brown the following year. She taught at […]
Helen Julia Thayer, class of 1922
Abstract Helen Julia Thayer grew up in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. She remembers Pembroke as a place of “gracious living,” including maids to clean the dorm rooms. The main pastime was dancing in the living room of Miller Hall to Jazz records. Rebellious activities included smoking in one’s closet, sleeping out on the fire escapes, […]
Anonymous, class of 1920
Abstract Speaking more than sixty years after graduation, this anonymous member of the Pembroke College class of 1920 begins by recalling her childhood, growing up in Providence, and her father’s desire for his children to graduate college. She discusses her reasons for attending Pembroke and shares her earliest memories of the campus. The alumna fondly […]