The above quote is from Erik Berg (Class of 2013). Read the full memory below:
I’ll remember how intimidatingly quiet it could be in there studying on the weekend but also how you could find a cozy spot somewhere with a beautiful view of Providence and sit down to read. It allowed you to really focus plus come midterms and finals everyone was there!
The above quote is from Adam F Chase (Class of 1985). Read the full memory below:
The Rock was my rock for all four years at Brown, particularly in my senior year as I wrote my history thesis. I remember almost disappearing into one of the hidden desks against a window and losing all track of time. On the flip side entering the main card catalog room was awesome and a place to see friends and come out of hibernation. In some ways, for me the Rock was one of the centers of my life at Brown.
The above quote is from Molly Brannan (Class of 2006). Read the full memory below:
I loved studying in the Absolute Quiet Room. If you turned a page too loudly, you’d get nasty looks from other students.
The above quote is from Tynan Wyatt (Class of 2005). Read the full memory below:
I remember looking forward to the forsythia blooming every late Winter/Spring. I would detour away from the stairs just to walk over the handicap ramp that was like a bridge over yellow happiness.
The above quote is from Ariel Werner (Class of 2009). Read the full memory below:
At the beginning of my senior year, I signed up for a carrel, a spot in the Rock where I could escape from my lively home and spirited housemates to write my honors thesis. I thought I had picked the perfect spot: near the books I needed and facing West to watch the sun set over Providence. But the first time I sat down to work, I turned to my right and saw—all the way down a long aisle of books—my silliest roommate. He had inadvertently chosen a carrel directly across from mine on the East side of the building. Every time I turned right, I saw him, and every time he turned left, he saw me. So much for a refuge.
The above quote is from William D. Brisbane (Class of 1966). Read the full memory below:
In the transition from the John Hay to the Rock I found a special place where I could study away from the hubbub of the dorm and later the frat house. I remember too first hearing about JFK’s being killed as I was leaving the Rock that fateful day.
The above quote is from Andy Shaindlin (Class of 1986). Read the full memory below:
In 1983-84 I worked in the mail room at the Rock, with full time staffers Jim Hannon and Dick Tortorella. They were really great guys to work with and to hang out with. One benefit of working the mail room was being the first person to unpackage and see the Library system’s “new” acquisitions—including handling rare and unusual books before the Special Collections experts even knew they had arrived. On occasion I would take home a new book and read it quickly, before it was catalogued by Acquisitions—but never anything rare, and never for more than a few days…
I was also only one of the only students who knew about the secret tunnel that connected the Rock with the John Hay…
The above quote is from Riaz Gllani (Class of 2009). Read the full memory below:
Studying for my first semester chemistry and math finals, drawing amino acids on the white board in the basement when prepping for my biochem test, leaving the Rock to walk across to green and sit on the steps for prayer, English 11 classes, finding an open desk in the stacks to bury myself and study for E&M.
The above quote is from Hannah (Class of 2012). Read the full memory below:
My mom is a librarian at a community college on the west coast, part of her job is managing inter-library loans. My roommate and I thought it would be fun to receive a book sent by her, but we had to make sure we requested something that could only come from her library. So we requested this (I assume, self-published) book about a man in my town who was important to the local lumber industry.
When our book “arrived”, it had the Brown / the Rock stamp on it, so I can only imagine they decided to purchase the book rather than ILL it from across the country. So now, somewhere in the depths of the Rock is everything anyone wanted to know about small town lumber business.
The above quote is from Louise Stanton (Class of 1972). Read the full memory below:
In the spring of 1967, I came to visit Pembroke College and tour the campus as a Junior in high school. Our visit started well, my mother noted, when we were lost in downtown Providence and asked a police man on a motorcycle how to get to Pembroke. “Here,” he said, “I’ll take you up there.” A motorcade arrival on my first visit.
It was spring break on campus, so few students were around, and we were the only family on the tour. When we approached the Rock, a student was coming down the steps and didn’t notice us. He crouched down and broke open an acorn and turned to the squirrel about ten feet away, also on the steps, and offered it the meat of the acorn.
The innocence, the generosity, the lack of pretense of that gesture—I decided right then, this was the school for me. Lucky girl, I got in off the waiting list, and got to go to the college on the very top of my list.