The above quote is from Jeff Anderson (Class of 1984). Read the full memory below:

Six years before I walked through Van Winkle Gates, I had my first encounter with The Rock. It was April 1974. My father was pursuing his college degree, part time at night, from Rhode Island College. His course schedule at that time included a course in U.S. History. He had a paper due on minorities in the U.S. and was focusing on the Japanese internment during World War II. He had some material but needed to do more research. Thinking the local public libraries wouldn’t have nearly the information he needed, he decided to see if he could use The Rock’s collection in his pursuit of knowledge, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. A couple weeks before the paper was due, he drove up to Prospect Street, parked his car and watched, effectively casing The Rock for weaknesses. He noticed two things: 1) all students showed some sort of card and 2) older adults – professors, researchers etc didn’t and were waved in without showing anything. A week later he decided it was time to get this research done. He drove up on a rainy afternoon, parked and waited. After a few minutes, he saw a group of students walking down Prospect approaching the front door. He quickly got out of his car. Unknowingly he was dressed like Prof. Josiah Carberry. Wearing a long tan raincoat and carrying both an umbrella and a briefcase, he followed the students. They each showed their ID’s and entered. As he approached, the guard said ‘Good Afternoon’. My father replied “Good Afternoon” and continued inside as if he knew where he was going but in fact had no idea what to do next. After collecting himself, having just gained entrance to “The Rock” as if escaping from the other “Rock”, he asked for help and spent the next 7 hours researching his paper. His planning and execution paid off with an “A”. Another 10 years would pass before he would enter the Rock again, but his time it was with me on Graduation Weekend. He entered as he did a decade earlier, with a smile and a friendly “Good Afternoon.” Happy Birthday “Rock.”

The above quote is from Sarah E Meyer (Class of 1983). Read the full memory below:

A 25 year old memory that is as clear as if it were yesterday….I studied at the Rock most nights after dinner. I would sit at a carrell along the outer edge of 2nd or 3rd floor with a view back to the campus during day light hours and a view of myself and everyone near me at night when the windows turned into mirrors.

To set the scene: it’s after dinner, my stomach is full, my blood sugar plummeting and it’s the end of a long day. Inevitably, I would fall asleep a few pages into whatever text I was reading with the yellow highlighter marking the page. What was so funny (and a bit humiliating) about the experience is that with the reflective windows, both my nap and my return to consciousness was witnessed by fellow carrell users. As I resumed my studies on pages now soaked through with yellow highlighter ink and drool, I was greeted with applause by my audience who had watched it all in those damned reflective windows which spared no one!

The above quote is from Michael Hammond (Class of 2008). Read the full memory below:

My favorite carrel in the Rock was on the 4th floor, the SW corner, overlooking downtown, the Biltmore, and the water. I loved working there, whether it was reading a play or writing an agonizing essay—I would always come there when I needed to get something done.

I also loved falling asleep in the Rock—I’d usually fall asleep on top of my desk and then curl up underneath. I got some of my best sleep there. And I’d wake up at 4 or 5 and finish my paper.

The above quote is from David C. Brock (Class of 1990). Read the full memory below:

In the middle 1980s, I spent many, many hours in a silent and, more importantly, smoking study room on a lower level of the library. How else would the cool kids have known that I was doing my reading for “Introduction to the Theory of Signs”?

The above quote is from Larry Aronoff (PhD 1974). Read the full memory below:

Working on my dissertation during ’73-’74, at a carrel on the third floor, with a view of downtown Providence. The view helped take the pressure off and clear my mind.

The above quote is from Paul Richard (Class of 1972). Read the full memory below:

My favorite memory of the Rock occurred during the year following my graduation when I worked full-time in the Circulation Department. During my assigned turn at the circulation desk, a frazzled graduate student rushed from the card catalog, and tossed a card onto the desk, demanding to know the location of the book she was desperately seeking. As it happened, I recognized the book as one I had shelved a few hours earlier. Assuming my best Great Karnak demeanor, I held the card to my forehead, and intoned, “this book can be found on the 4th floor, stack XYZ, 7 shelves from the beginning of the stack, 5th shelf from the top, 12th book from the left.” The student left in a huff, convinced that I was fobbing her off with deliberate misinformation. A few minutes later she returned to the checkout desk, book in hand. “How did you know exactly where it was?” she asked. Without missing a beat, I replied, “We’re a full service library – anything we can do to please our customers.”

The above quote is from Harry William Holt Jr. (Class of 1984). Read the full memory below:

I was an engineering student who attended Brown from 1980 to 1984. Most engineers studied in the Science Library. I could never study there. I found the Sci Li as we affectionately called it cold and dreary. I enjoyed studying in the Rock back in the stacks in a carrel with bad lightening by myself. I was able to be so productive amongst the old books of diverse knowledge. I would take mini-breaks and go out in the lobby and other students would be around chatting. This I found inspiring. I did some of my best studying at the Rock.

The above quote is from an anonymous graduate. Read the full memory below:

Naked doughnuts in the Absolute Quiet Room

The above quote is from Judson Brandeis (Class of 1989). Read the full memory below:

My favorite rock memory was that one night I was studying at the rock and it just so happened to be the 350th birthday of Providence. The city was launching fireworks from downtown and they were exploding at just about the height of the Rock. I have never seen fireworks so spectacular as when I was at the level of the fiery colored plumes.

The above quote is from Lori Schack (Class of 1987). Read the full memory below:

I remember the long treatises and conversations that were written in the women’s bathrooms’ stalls, about campus issues of the day and often personal aspects of peoples lives. They were an anonymous forum in the same spirit of some of today’s social media. They were written with passion and thoughtfulness you’d expect from Brown students. They were a great break from studying!! I haven’t seen anything like it since—at least in a bathroom! Does this still exist or has it been replaced by social media?