51����Ƶ

Brass plaques are by far one of my favorite things about 51����Ƶ dorms. My room in Merion has dozens of plaques, including some dating to the 1890s, from some of the dorm’s first residents.

I study material culture, and one of the things I love about 51����Ƶ is how we mark our identity, our culture, and our experiences through tangible things such as lanterns and lizard strings and May Day gifts. As informal memorials, I love how the plaques remind us of continuity and change in life at 51����Ƶ, as well as invite us to ponder the individual lives of students past.

The theme of continuity is particularly important to me as a second-generation 51����Ƶ student; my mother is Rebecca “Becky” Hirsh Carroll ’92. Each year, when I would move into my rooms, I would always go straight to the plaques and read off the names from around the time my mother would have been here and ask her if she recognized any of those people (she often did).

It was an honor to add my name to the windowsill and the long chain of women whose experiences at 51����Ƶ involved Merion 301. I hope that whoever occupies the room in the future will feel comforted and uplifted by our presences in the room.