Title Information
Title
50th Reunion, class of 1973
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Banks, Martha
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Betesh, Joan
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Clarke, Nancy
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Desmond, Jane
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Durfee, Lynda
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Knox, Amanda
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewer
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Lim, Lillian
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
McMillen, Patricia
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Peyser, Nina Peskoe
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Schlesinger, Phyllis Fineman
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Weber, Marian
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Name: Personal (Local)
Name Part
Winner, Lucy
Role
Role Term: Text (marcrelator)
interviewee
Type of Resource (primo) (authorityURI="https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Product_Documentation/020Primo_VE/Primo_VE_(English)/100Loading_Records_from_External_Sources_into_Primo_VE/Configuring_Normalization_Rules_for_External_Resources_(Primo_VE)#Supported_Resource_Types_in_Primo_VE")
videos
Genre (aat) (authorityURI="https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/")
oral histories (document genres)
Abstract: general (displayLabel="Scope and Contents note")
In this interview, Martha Banks, Joan Betesh, Nancy Clarke, Jane Desmond, Lynda Durfee, Phyllis Fineman Schlesinger, Lillian Lim, Patricia McMillen, Nina Peskoe Peyser, Marian Weber, and Lucy Winner, members of the Brown University class of 1973, share their memories of their time on campus in honor of their 50th reunion. The first half hour of the interview is spent on introductions including each interviewee’s concentration, career path after Brown, and family life. The interviewees go on to discuss the summer of 1969, just as they were preparing to enter Brown. Peyser remembers watching the Apollo 11 moon landing while studying at the University of Leningrad. Peyser and Schlesinger both discuss the value of the new curriculum – the elimination of core requirements. Desmond mentions the significance of the deaths of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy as well as going to the Woodstock Festival. In speaking of their time at Brown, they talk about access to the birth control pill on campus, fear around getting pregnant, and assisting friends who needed abortions. They also discuss their experiences with sexual assault and harassment. Note that some identifying information has been redacted from this portion of the interview to maintain the privacy of those being discussed. They go on to remember the Kent State shootings that resulted in the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus, setting off a wave of student strikes across American college campuses, including at Brown. They also talk about posture pictures – a eugenics practice that included taking photos of semi-nude students under the guise of checking for scoliosis. While thinking about lighter topics, Lim talks about being a co-founder of the Asian American Student Association; Schlesinger, Clarke, and Durfee talk about gym requirements and courses; and several discuss the significance of fashion. On the whole, the group credits Brown for teaching them how to question norms and build their leadership skills.
Note: biographical/historical (displayLabel="Biographical/historical note")
The Brown University class of 1973 entered in 1969 under President Donald Hornig and Pembroke College Dean Rosemary Pierrel. They were the last class to enter as Pembroke students with admissions offices, dormitories, and parietal rules separate from the men’s college. They were the first class to enter under the new curriculum, now called the open curriculum. Their class also enrolled the largest number of Black students in Brown’s history. The previously largest class of 1968 enrolled just eight Black women students, which prompted protest and the landmark Black student walkout. The class of 1973 joined their cohort just after Apolo 11 landed on the moon and after the Woodstock Festival. Other national events that impacted their time on campus include the start of the military draft lottery for the War in Vietnam, the Kent State shootings that led to nation-wide student strikes, and the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Note: biographical/historical (displayLabel="Class year")
1973
Note: preferredcitation
50th Reunion, class of 1973, Brown University Library
Origin Information
Date Created (keyDate="yes")
2023 March 15
Language
Language Term: Code (ISO639-2B)
eng
Physical Description
Extent
mp4 (01:36:03)
digitalOrigin
born digital
Access Condition: restriction on access
Collection is open for research.
Subject (Local)
Topic
Abortion
Subject (Local)
Topic
Academics
Subject (Local)
Topic
Activism
Subject (Local)
Topic
Asian Students
Subject (Local)
Topic
Birth Control
Subject (Local)
Topic
Black Students
Subject (Local)
Topic
Brown Daily Herald
Subject (Local)
Topic
Clothing and Fashion
Subject (Local)
Topic
Employment
Subject (Local)
Topic
Feminism
Subject (Local)
Topic
Feminist Student Groups
Subject (Local)
Topic
Gender Expectations
Subject (Local)
Topic
Open Curriculum
Subject (Local)
Topic
Pembroke-Brown Merger
Subject (Local)
Topic
Physical Education
Subject (Local)
Topic
Politics
Subject (Local)
Topic
Posture Pictures
Subject (Local)
Topic
Protests
Subject (Local)
Topic
Sex Discrimination
Subject (Local)
Topic
Sexual Harassment
Subject (Local)
Topic
Student Activities
Subject (Local)
Topic
Students of Color
Subject (Local)
Topic
Theatre
Subject (Local)
Topic
Third World Transition Program
Subject (Local)
Topic
Vietnam War
Subject (Local)
Topic
Women’s Movement
Subject (Local)
Temporal
1970s
Identifier: Local (displayLabel="BDR_PID")
bdr:1110059
Identifier: Local (displayLabel="MODS_ID")
bdr1110059
Note (displayLabel="Digital object made available by")
Brown University Library, John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts, Box A, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, U.S.A., (http://library.brown.edu/)