John Wesley Gilbert, Class of 1888, was the first African American to receive an advanced degree from Brown. He received his Master of Arts in 1891 with a thesis on “The Demes of Attica.” He went on to teach Greek and English at the Paine Institute in Georgia.

In a petition submitted to the Brown Corporation, Rhode Island parents requested that their daughters be admitted to Brown “on the same conditions as young men.” The second signature on this petition belongs to Reverend Joseph J. Woolley of Pawtucket. His daughter Mary Emma would be one of the first two women to graduate from Brown.

Built with funds provided by then-Governor Herbert W. Ladd, Brown’s observatory was built under the guiding eye of Professor Winslow Upton, who would also serve as its first director. The intended purpose of the building and its telescope (a refractor of twelve inches aperture and fifteen feet focal length) was three-fold: to provide instruction in astronomy, to conduct astronomical research and to furnish time signals (a service Ladd provided to the community until 1973).

Waking on the morning of December 2, 1891, Brown students were surprised to find a new publication on their doorsteps. Despite the lack of preliminary fanfare, the new daily newspaper, sold for two cents a copy, became a college institution.

In 1894, Mary Emma Woolley (left) and Anne Tillinghast Weeden became the first female graduates of Brown. Mary Woolley earned a master’s degree from Brown in 1895 and went on to serve as the president of Mount Holyoke College from 1901 to 1937. She was recognized as a leader in higher education and awarded eighteen honorary doctorates in her lifetime, including one from Brown.

In 1897, Brown conferred its first doctoral degree on a woman. Martha Tarbell earned the Ph.D. in German studies for her dissertation on the history and criticism of the German ballad.

The first official home of the Women’s College opened six years after the first female students began their study at Brown. Its construction was made possible through the fundraising efforts of the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women, under the leadership of president Sarah Doyle. At the dedication, Doyle explained the significance of the name “Pembroke Hall,” after the college that Roger Williams attended at Cambridge. The school was founded by a woman, Marie de St Pol, the Countess of Pembroke. In her speech, Doyle also famously remarked on the great importance of the endeavor: “The women’s sphere is one of infinite and indeterminate radius.”

The first public joint activity between the men’s and women’s colleges was the staging of the Greek play Return of Odysseus. Three performances were held in Pembroke Hall and the proceeds went towards furnishings for the newly opened building.

In the late 1800s, Americans were playing ice polo, a game similar to ice hockey but with shorter sticks and a ball instead of a puck. In 1894, four Brown ice polo players traveled to Canada to learn the game of ice hockey. Upon their return, they introduced the sport to the United States. On January 19, 1898, Brown defeated Harvard 6–0, beginning college hockey’s oldest continuing rivalry.

President Faunce, Class of 1880, served for 30 years, longer than any president before or since. Even accounting for the length of his term, his accomplishments were many. The physical growth of the campus included a new President’s House, the Van Wickle Gates, Rockefeller Hall (later Faunce House, and today, the Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center), the John Carter Brown and Hay Libraries and Metcalf Laboratory, to name only a few. Faunce also bought up extensive tracts of land to allow for future expansion. Meanwhile, he increased the endowment from $1.1 to $9.9 million. In the midst of all this activity, he spoke of his progressive goals and commitment to intellectual freedom: “Hence I have welcomed at Brown University men of every faith and every creed and ever shall. Many times I have heard men say from platforms at Brown things, which I could never believe, and I have bid them go on. In the State founded by Roger Williams, the University will always stand for giving a platform to every man of whatever faith or creed who speaks with the proper courtesy and consideration for his fellow man.”