Caroline Flanders, class of 1926
Caroline Flanders was raised on a farm in the Meshanticut Park section of western Cranston, Rhode Island. She graduated from Pembroke College in 1926 and then received a degree in Social Work from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After college she lived in New York City working for the Charity Organization Community Service Society. Shortly after the Depression she was the Chief of the Bureau of Information and Inquiry under Mayor La Guardia in New York City. She moved back to Rhode Island a few years after she retired.
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.” She mentions the Charleston, Prohibition and drinking hot liquor from a flask. Flanders tells of going to graduate school in Cleveland and being the first woman in her family to have a college degree, and of traveling to Paris, England, Bali and other destinations around the world. Flanders closes the interview by showing her gratitude for all the opportunities she has had.