"If you graduate from Pembroke, you can do anything you want to do." These were the words of Dean Lewis that Charlene Ingraham warmly recalls during her interview. This is demonstrated as Ingraham expands on her career after Pembroke, becoming a teacher and active alumna of Brown University. Throughout the interview, Ingraham focuses on the cultural aspects of being a Pembroke student: being a city girl; staying overnight in West House, lectures at Chapel, hair and clothing fads of the late 50s, posture pictures, and the relationship between Brown and Pembroke students. Ingraham discusses her views on the Brown/Pembroke merger; the New Curriculum; Spring Weekend; the Maypole Dance; and the swim test.
Notes:
Class year: 1959
Biographical note: Charlene Marion Underhill Ingraham was born and raised in Cranston, Rhode Island and attended Pembroke College as part of the class of 1959. After graduating, Ingraham married and began teaching at a junior high in East Providence until her son was born. She left her job to raise her son, and once he was grown, she returned to teaching, as well as getting involved in several volunteer opportunities.
This collection contains oral history interviews with alumnae of Brown University, which admitted its first women students in 1891. The Women's College at Brown was renamed Pembroke College in 1928, and in 1971, Pembroke College merged with the Men's College …
