In 1900, the Class of 1899 first organized an association of the women graduates of Brown. The organization was initially named the Andrews Association, in honor of Brown President Elisha Andrews, who worked to help gain women admittance to the college. In 1906, it became the Alumnae Association of Brown University, functioning under that name until the merger of Pembroke College and the men’s college in 1971, when the two alumni clubs merged as well.

David Hall, Class of 1901, was Brown's first Olympian, winning bronze in the 800-meter race in Paris.

Although most of the Women’s College professors at the time were men who received additional payment for teaching the separate women’s classes, an exception was Ada G. Wing (front row, center), who began teaching anatomy to women students in 1897.

Brown’s alumni magazine was launched by a small group of Providence professionals and businessmen with a goal to “bring the University and its graduates into closer touch and sympathy.” Even when, years later, the magazine staff would be housed and paid by the University, the publication would retain its editorial independence.

Unique among college companies for its faculty-staff collaboration, Sock and Buskin was formed in 1901 by English Professor Tom Crosby, Class of 1894. The name derived from the Greek dramatic genres: Comedy (represented by the soccus, a slipper-like shoe) and Tragedy (represented by the buskin, a laced half-boot). The all-male Sock and Buskin would combine with the all-female Komians (founded the same year and named for Comus, the god of revelry) in the 1940s.

Built with a bequest from Augustus Stout Van Wickle, Class of 1876, the Van Wickle Gates serve as the ceremonial entry to - and exit from - campus. The center gates remain closed except for two occasions. They are opened inward to admit new students at the Opening Convocation, the ceremonial beginning of the academic year, and outward at Commencement to allow graduates to pass through.

Brown’s close neighbor, the co-educational Rhode Island School of Design, opened in 1877. The school entered into cooperative arrangement with Brown in 1902, initially opening three courses to Brown students.

After amassing a relatively small selection of books from his family and his travels, John Carter Brown, Class of 1816, decided to collect books, printed or made before 1801, on the discovery, exploration and settlement of the Western hemisphere, calling his area of interest, “the Great Subject.” His son, John Nicholas Brown, continued to acquire Americana and add to what by the late 19th century had already become known as the John Carter Brown Library. After the death of John Nicholas in 1900, both the collection and the funds to construct a library building came to Brown. Although located in the center of campus, the John Carter Brown Library is an independently administered and funded library and research center.

A graduate of Providence’s Classical High School, Ethel Ester Maria Tremaine Robinson was the first African American female graduate of Brown. She went on to teach English at Howard University and helped in the founding of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first black sorority n the United States.

In 1907, the new Sayles Gymnasium (now Smith-Buonanno Hall) opened for the use of female students. The building’s facilities included a track, a bowling alley and a “resting room.” Among wider efforts to create a separate women’s culture at the college, the development of physical education was seen as key to attracting a broader range of students.

In June 1908, a crowd gathered to watch the unveiling of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on Lincoln Field behind Sayles Hall. It joined the statue of Caesar Augustus, which had been placed in front of Rhode Island Hall in 1906 (it would be moved to Wriston Quad in 1952). The iconic statues were presented by brothers Moses Brown Ives Goddard and Colonel Robert Hale Ives Goddard.