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Ethel Mary Humphrey, class of 1928

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Overview

Year:: 1982
Contributor:: Humphrey, Ethel Mary (interviewee); Patchin, Oona (interviewer)
Genre:: oral histories (literary works)
Subject:: 1920s; Academics; Administration; Great Depression; Marriage; Student Activities

Abstract:: In Part 1 of her interview, Ethel Humphrey Anderson discusses the circumstances that led her to attend Brown University; academics and student relationships with the deans; her involvement in the Press Club and drama productions; coeducation; attitudes surrounding the name change to Pembroke College; and social interactions between men and women, including drinking during Prohibition. In Part 2, she talks about her smoking habits in the 1920s; students who wished to get married; the one African American student she remembers; effects of the Great Depression and the WPA; her marriage and family life; and the greater benefits of her education. Note: the final six minutes of this interview have been damaged and are virtually inaudible.
Notes:: Class year: 1929; Biographical note: Ethel Humphrey Anderson was born in Providence, RI on November 25, 1907 to John and Isabelle (Donahue) Humphrey. She attended Classical High School and Pembroke College, graduating in 1929, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. She later received a Master's degree in English from Brown. In 1933, she married George K. Anderson, a professor of English at Brown, and was president of the Ladies of the Faculty. She was also active in the First Unitarian Church of Providence, the League of Women Voters, Children's Friend, and several other organizations.

"Ethel Mary Humphrey, class of 1928" (1982). Pembroke Center Oral History Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:583342/

Pembroke Center Oral History Collection

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 …
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