The above quote is from Scott Neeley (Class of 1978). Read the full memory below:

I grew up in a working class suburb of Kansas City. Among my freshman year surprises were foods I’d never eaten—quahogs, fried clams, Boston cream pie—in pretty-much unlimited quantities. I’d often have pie after a big dinner and then grab a soft-serve ice cream cone on my way to the library. If I arrived soon after dinner, I could grab an Eames chair in my favorite spot, on the lower lever facing an interior garden. I’d be logged down from a big dinner and multiple desserts, and once settled in, usually spent a long while asleep in the comfortable spot before beginning my studies.

The above quote is from Sallee Garner (Class of 1969). Read the full memory below:

Although I spent a lot of time in the library, my most vivid memory is of the forsythia that bloomed in front of it. Coming from a far northern corner of New York State too cold for forsythia, I was dazzled by the hot almost tropical yellow of the flowers.

The above quote is from Gavin Bahadur (Class of 1989, 1992 MD). Read the full memory below:

I remember a handful of picture perfect spring days when I would lie on the grass outside the Rock and write letters to my girlfriend who lived in Michigan. I wrote those letters to her for several years, and finally one day, she married me. We have been married nearly twenty years now and have a wonderful boy and girl!

The Rock was also a place where I did a lot of studying and learning in the carrells in the periodicals section—where I fell fast asleep on the pages of my organic chemistry text more times than I can remember.

The above quote is from Zsolt Zombori (Class of 2009). Read the full memory below:

I always had a slight tendency to squeeze too much into the day to the expense of the night. Often, I would have massive volumes of books to read, while on the verge of falling asleep. I would then always go to the Rock, naively hoping that I could resist falling asleep in the common reading room. When it proved to not work, I started reading while standing. I found a nice lectern to hold my book and I stood there until my reading was done. I never thought this method could ever prove insufficient, but one day, I simply fell asleep while standing. I fell to the ground, which woke me up. Looking around I found some twenty pairs of curious eyes directed towards me. Full of embarrassment, I realized this was the time to give up and go to bed.

The above quote is from Erica Reisman (Class of 2009). Read the full memory below:

I remember studying in the carrels and watching the sun set over Providence. And I remember running into some naked people handing out donuts before finals.

The above quote is from Marel d’Orbessan Rogers (Class of 1969). Read the full memory below:

The Rock was my first “big” library, and also the first with LC call numbers. I remember using the central smoking rooms (which have probably disappeared) and the classrooms, and doing my first primary source research with government documents (thank you whomever showed me how to find them all under “United States”). I earned my MLS after Brown and credit the Rock with some of the inspiration to become a professional librarian.

The above quote is from Gwenn Masterman Snider (Class of 1983). Read the full memory below:

My most enduring memory of the Rock was from the spring of 1983 when I wrote my thesis. I had a carrel in the lowest level in the farthest corner. I stocked it with gorp and carried a thermos of herbal tea there each day. I spent hours researching and hours more writing. This was before computers and my note cards numbered in the thousands.

I was a Literature and Society major and took myself very seriously. Those of us who burrowed underground knew we were “real” scholars and nodded coolly to one another as we took our seats in the basement.

It was fun and in retrospect silly.

The above quote is from Whitney Stewart (Class of 1983). Read the full memory below:

The Rock—oh, how I loved you. I lived inside your stacks. Did you know? Could you hear me? I was as silent as a tree in a windless forest, soaking up your words, your wisdom, through my roots. You inspired me to plant my own books.