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Pembroke Center Archives

The Pembroke Center Archives identifies, collects, and processes collections related to our mission: advancing the capacity for research and teaching on women, gender, and feminist scholarship in the University library system.

History of the Pembroke Center Oral History Project

Initiated by the Pembroke Center Associates (now called the Friends of the Pembroke Center) in 1982, these oral histories record the experiences of women and gender minorities connected to Brown University. Digitized interviews are available online and include transcripts, biographies, and photographs by and about students, alums, faculty, and staff who studied and worked at Brown as early as 1907.

Since 1982, the Pembroke Center has documented the experiences of women who attended Brown University and Pembroke College by collecting interviews with alumnae of diverse backgrounds, academic and extracurricular interests, and life experiences. In 2018 the project welcomed its first two interviews with transgender students. In order to recognize the broadened scope of the collection, the project's name was changed from Brown Women Speak to the Pembroke Center Oral History Project in 2019.  

The website was created in 2012 and revamped in 2023 to make these unique first-hand stories accessible to students, researchers, alumnae/i, and other users interested in learning about the rich history of cis and trans women and non-binary people at Brown University. The site features a growing collection of digitized interviews and transcripts, as well as supplementary materials that include biographical sketches and yearbook photographs. We invite you to explore the oral histories, photos, and related materials.

The digitization of these interviews has been sponsored by the Friends of the Pembroke Center, a group of alumnae and friends that supports the activities of the Pembroke Center and their governing body, the Pembroke Center Advisory Council.

The Pembroke Center Oral History Collection containing administrative records, audiotapes of interviews, transcripts, and related material, is also available for research.

 

Banner image: collage featuring (clockwise from top left): Lillian Y. Lim '73; students from Women at Brown United (approx. 1972); Jessica Meir '99; Johanna Fernández '93; artwork by Miriam (Mimi) Pichey '72; Elizabeth Branch Jackson '45; the cover of Brun Mael, the yearbook of Pembroke College, 1952.