The above quote is from William A. Levine (Class of 1964). Read the full memory below:
I enjoyed watching the Library being built from the vantage point of a class I had on the second floor of a building across College Hill—it distracted me when the class was not holding my attention.
The above quote is from Jim Phillips (Class of 1974). Read the full memory below:
I worked for three years at the Rock, first behind the main checkout counter and then as a night staffer at the Social Sciences reading room. Felt like a happy worker bee in a busy research hive. But my favorite memories were pouring over newly arrived editions of the New Republic, National Review, Washington Post and N.Y. Times in the periodicals reading room. People today have the internet, but back then the Rock was my window on the world for learning about Vietnam, Watergate, the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the oil embargo. Also have great memories of nighttime pilgrimages to the roof of the Physical Sciences Library while it was under construction. There was a great view of Providence (always prettier at night) and you could hear yourself think.
The above quote is from Bruce McIntosh (Class of 1967). Read the full memory below:
A place of infinite discovery and richness on many levels: intellectual, social, emotional,
gastronomical, nocturnal, olfactory . . .
The above quote is from Sidney E Okashige (Class of 1967). Read the full memory below:
I remember attending the dedication and the outfit I wore (perhaps because I have a photo of myself with one of the Rockefellers).
The above quote is from Barnaby (Class of 1988). Read the full memory below:
I was in a very small market segment: a Eurotrash who did not smoke, wore colours, and actually studied at the Rock. I remember going through the Fishbowl, where my Euro brethren would smoke and hang out, waiting for someone to procrastinate with. I would walk by, index cards ready, get sucked in, and have a great hour or two talking about this movie and that friend and this party etc. It was so much fun, and really exhilarating to feel the stress from getting behind on my thesis get intertwined with the pleasure of hanging out…And then, settled finally into Carrel A36, still thinking about the conversations, the sweet smell of Marlboros lingering on my shirt…
The above quote is from Tia Heywood (Class of 2017). Read the full memory below:
The first time I was in the Rock I noticed a small exhibit of miniature totem poles by the first floor elevators. I’m from Southeast Alaska, home of the Tlingit, where totem poles are an important aspect of the culture. I stopped in my tracks and looked closer. Were these Northwest Coast totem poles? Yes. Were some Tlingit? Yes! Looking even closer at the caption I noticed the word “Haines”—the name of my hometown—and the name “Wayne Price,” a carver whom I know. I couldn’t believe it. It’s such a small world, even though I’m so far from home. It’s nice to have that small piece of home here so far away—that totem, if you will.
The above quote is from Eric Muller (Class of 1984). Read the full memory below:
I spent more time at the Rock between 1980 and 1984 than I care to admit. I’ll share three specific memories.
(1) I spent almost all of my time in a carrel on A Level, on the Prospect Street side, into the wooden desk of which some unnamed earlier student had carved the slogan “Save Soviet Jews! Win Valuable Prizes!”
(2) My favorite time-killer was to go to the very large stack area where decades worth of old bound issues of the New York Times were stored. In today’s digital days, the pleasure of actually turning the pages of those fascinating old newspapers has been lost.
(3) Before graduating, several friends and I marked our respective heights underneath the staircase on A Level. They were still there at our fifth reunion in ’89, but a paint job (I guess) had done them in by the tenth in ’94.
The above quote is from David Muller (Class of 1981). Read the full memory below:
I ended a short relationship early in my senior year while eating chocolate chip cookies in the third floor snack lounge. That was in September 1980. Diana Marcus (’82) Muller and I have now been married for 21 years. The break-up didn’t end our friendship, nor did it sour my taste for chocolate-chip cookies!
The above quote is from Anne Lutz Fernandez-Carol (Class of 1984). Read the full memory below:
Down to the hue of the lights over the card catalog, my memories of the Rock are remarkably vivid thirty years later. I most remember the feeling of marching up the steps energized to spend an evening at work researching and writing—and the feeling of waking up a few hours later with a pad of yellow lined paper cushioning my face atop a carousel desktop. I remember pulling criticism off the stacks to learn more about the contemporary authors that were rocking me on my young heels—Jose Donoso and Robert Coover among them. I remember exactly the relief-filled moment I began to understand the academese in the Poli Sci journal articles I had been assigned. But it wasn’t all high-minded activity in the Rock. I remember getting kicked out of the quiet room for getting the church giggles, and there was a boy I was crushing on badly Junior year who usually studied on B-level. I relocated there from my usual spot on the second floor for several months to facilitate accidental run-ins. There were a few.
The above quote is from Caroline Mailloux (Class of 2007). Read the full memory below:
I spent more time in The Rock than I ought admit. But always on the 4th floor, cityside, overlooking the city of Providence. When my thesis felt all-consuming, I would gaze out the window to behold the beautiful city views and remember that there was life on the outside. When life on the outside felt all-consuming, I could retreat to my Rock world and feel comforted by the endless rows of books, community of other thesis writers, and decades of students who sat at carrell 77 before me on the quest for truth, knowledge, and humanity.
Few places on campus do I associate with Brown more than The Rock.