- Title Information
- Title
- Josephine Mary Russo, class of 1938
- Title Information:
Alternative
(displayLabel="Pembroke title")
- Title
- Josephine Russo Carson, class of 1938
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Russo, Josephine Mary
- Role
- Role Term:
Text (marcrelator)
- interviewee
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Wirth, Lori J.
- Role
- Role Term:
Text (marcrelator)
- interviewer
- Type of Resource
- mixed material
- Origin Information
- Date Created
(keyDate="yes", encoding="w3cdtf")
- 1982-11-30
- Language
- Language Term:
Code (ISO639-2B)
- eng
- Abstract
- In this interview, Josephine Mary Russo, class of 1938, explains that she had wanted to attend college since the age of ten. When she came of age, her parents obliged her to remain in her home state of Rhode Island, so she chose to attend Pembroke College. During the interview, Carson discusses the Great Depression and the importance of working while she was in school because jobs were so scarce at the time. Carson also recalls taking college boards and academic requirements, such as physical education in addition to compulsory chapel. Toward the end of the interview, Carson addresses living in a dorm with curfews, as well as dress codes, and activities, like formal dinners, which accompanied living on campus. She emphasizes Professor Sinclair Armstrong who had a profound influence on her time at Pembroke and her interest in history. In addition to her life on campus, Carson also discusses her life after graduation and recollects being one of the first married women to be permitted to work at the Brown Library. She details her approval of the Pembroke-Brown Merger and states that the two colleges collaborated so extensively that the change was only in the name. Throughout the interview, Carson emphasizes how the Great Depression affected society and Pembroke College. Listeners should be ware that Carson exhibits memory loss during the interview, most notably when she recalls that much of her time in school was spent in coeducational situations and shard between the Pembroke and Brown campuses. This is likely a mistaken memory as coeducational experiences were highly unusual at the time.
- Note:
biographical/historical
(displayLabel="Class year")
- 1938
- Note:
biographical/historical
(displayLabel="Biographical note")
- Josephine Mary Russo grew up in Rhode Island and was the oldest of three children. She attended Rogers High School in Providence and graduated from Pembroke College in 1938 with her A.B. in history. She married fellow Brown graduate Leslie Carson and maintained a career in library services. For an oral history conducted by Jodi Prochaska, a South Kingstown High School student, regarding Carson's experience during World War II, please see "War Sparks a More Active Role for Women.\
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- 1930s
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Academics
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Dormitories
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Great Depression
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Pembroke-Brown merger
- Genre (aat)
(authorityURI="http://vocab.getty.edy/aat/", valueURI="http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300202595")
- oral histories (literary works)