Established in 1982, the Pembroke Center Archives identifies, collects, and processes collections related to our mission: advancing the capacity for research and teaching on women, gender, and feminist scholarship in the University library system. These collections are then housed at the John Hay Library where they become part of the library’s special collections. Local, national, and international scholars are welcome to visit the library to use Pembroke Center Archives for research.
The Archives’ traditional areas of strength are feminist theory, the history of women at Brown, and the history of feminist activism in Rhode Island. The Archive has also been involved in special projects that center gender, law, and justice, as exemplified by our curatorial and processing work on the Mumia Abu-Jamal papers and the Johanna Fernández papers. To learn more about these efforts, see The Brown Daily Herald.
The Archives have three strategic collecting directions.
1. The Feminist Theory Archive
The Feminist Theory Archive documents the work and lives of influential scholars who place sex and gender at the center of their theoretical study. Current collecting places a particular emphasis on Black feminist theory and thinking, as part of the Pembroke Center’s Black Feminist Theory Project.
2. Women and Gender at Brown
These collections center the lives of women and gender minorities connected to Brown University. The Pembroke Center Oral History project, as well as the related papers and personal archives of Brown community members, are housed in these collections.
3. Feminist Activism in Rhode Island
These collections document the work of feminist student groups, organizations, artists, and activists at Brown University and in the state of Rhode Island.
The Pembroke Center Archives regularly celebrates its collections and donors through exhibits, including The Lamphere Case: The Sex Discrimination Lawsuit That Changed Brown, Hortense J. Spillers: A Life Recorded, and the annual Shauna M. Stark '76, P'10 Out of the Archive event series.
For more information, email pembroke_archives@brown.edu.