Pembroke Alumna

The Pembroke Alumna was the alumnae magazine of Pembroke College, which superseded an earlier publication called the Brown Alumnae News Letter. The News Letter had made its first appearance in 1928, the year in which the name of the Women’s College was changed to Pembroke College. The first issue, a mimeographed offering of five pages, announced, “This news letter, bulletin, embryonic magazine, what you will, is in the nature of an experiment that we hope will work, a venture that we intend to make permanent.” In its second year, in March 1929, the Brown Alumnae News Letter, “Published by the Alumnae Association of Brown University,” became a printed leaflet of four pages. It continued in this format, growing over the years to eight pages, and from 1932 including occasional photographs. The issue for February 1950 was a magazine with a photographic cover and a newly acquired title, Pembroke News Letter. The title was occasionally Pembroke News Letter and Alumnae Record, when the honor roll of donors was included. The News Letter was edited by Gertrude Allen McConnell ’10 until her retirement in 1955, and then by Doris Hopkins Stapelton ’28 until 1957. The change of title to Pembroke Alumna took place in October 1957. Editors of the Pembroke Alumna were Polly Welts Kaufman ’51 from October 1957 to January 1968, Sally Kappelman Riggs ’62 from April 1968 to July 1971, after which the Pembroke Alumna merged with the Brown Alumni Monthly.