Pembroke College Records from Alumnae Hall (OF.1ZP.2017.007)

Biographical/Historical note

Pembroke College in Brown University was the name given to the Women’s College in 1928. The first women students had arrived in October 1891, after some years of negotiations. It was not until 1896 that the Corporation finally passed its “Legislation Founding the Women’s College in Brown University.” That legislation recognized the women’s college as a department and provided that the dean appointed by Brown University President Elisha Andrews would report directly to Andrews, and furthermore, that the women’s tuition payments would cover the cost of their instruction plus a ten percent payment to Brown University. In 1903, the Women’s College was given its own faculty – composed of all department heads in the University and the faculty members who taught courses for women – to supervise all academic matters except admission and graduation.

Over the years Brown and Pembroke students merged their student organizations, attended coeducational classes, and in 1969 began living in coed dormitories. On November 12, 1970 a motion adopted by the Advisory and Executive Council of the Corporation announced, “It is the sense of this meeting that it would be in the best interests of the University that appropriate steps be taken to consolidate the administrative functions at Pembroke College with corresponding functions at The College.” On July 1, 1971, the offices of the two colleges for admission, financial aid, placement, housing, and counseling were merged in the final act of making Brown a truly coeducational university.

For many years, these records were stored in the attic of Alumnae Hall unbeknownst to university staff. In 2017, the facilities department brought the records to the attention of the Pembroke Center archivist. After that, archives staff gathered and processed the records that remained.