Rita R. Schorr begins this interview by recounting her childhood in Poland, the outbreak of World War II, and her and her family’s placement in Auschwitz. She explains the trauma of this experience, as well as her determination to survive. Schorr transitions to discuss her education in Munich after she was liberated, and her later move to the United States. She describes the gratitude she feels toward the Pembrokers who fundraised on her behalf, as well as the support she received from friends, professors, and members of the Brown University and Providence Jewish community.
Speaking 61 years after graduating from Pembroke College, Mary Jane Mikuriya, class of 1956, shares an exceptionally rich account of her experience as an American student and woman of Japanese and Austro-Hungarian descent in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Sarah Kay, Brown University class of 2010, begins her interview by describing her experiences as a child during 9/11 in New York City. Kay recalls in great detail the effects that 9/11 had both on her family, as well as her budding interest in poetry. Kay continues by describing her decision to apply to and attend Brown University for her undergraduate degree.
In Part 1 of this interview, Elizabeth Branch Jackson begins by talking about her high-achieving family. Educated at Howard Dental School, her father was one of only two Black dentists in Providence at that time. He was also active in the NAACP and a variety of community programs, pushing the same expectations he had for himself onto his daughter. Jackson discusses the inevitability of pursuing a Ph.D., her lack of choice in choosing Pembroke, and being a highly visible token among her classmates.
In this interview, Lorraine Estelle Adler, Brown University class of 1945, discusses her experience as a student during the war years and also touches upon the events of September 11, 2001, and the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In this interview, Janice Vanderwater discusses her college education at Barnard College and her path to becoming the first female faculty member of the English department at Brown University, then the director of dramatics. She worked at Brown from 1940 until 1966 and she details how the campus, and her position as a faculty member, was transformed by World War II, including the development of coed classes and trimesters, the increase of Army students, and the decrease of male faculty that allowed for her promotions in the department.
