Mary Jane Mikuriya was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 8, 1934, to parents of Japanese and Austro-Hungarian origin. She graduated from George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1952 and moved on to pursue engineering and mathematics at Pembroke College. After graduating from Pembroke in 1956, Mikuriya received her master's in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University in 1971, a Life Teaching Credential for grades 8-14 from the state of California, as well as a California Administrative Credential. Mikuriya went on to a long and successful career in educational development, research, and planning for school districts and the federal government. She retired from the San Francisco Unified School District in 1989 and continued to volunteer her time as an educational consultant, assisting in educational grant applications through 2011. She is a proud volunteer host and traveler with Servas, a non-profit organization dedicated to international peace and understanding.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Mary Jane Mikuriya papers, Ms.2017.021, Christine Dunlap Farnham Archive, Brown University Library.
This collection consists of the personal papers of Mary Jane Mikuriya, Asian-American Pembroke College alumna from the class of 1956. Papers document Mikuriya’s time at Pembroke from 1952-1956 and include clippings, room assignment correspondence and cards, commencement and Father Daughter Weekend programs, facebooks, scrapbook pages, and her diploma. The collection also includes contemporary reminiscences by Mikuriya about her time at Pembroke and about her experience as a multi-racial, Asian-American college student in post World War II United States. The collection spans from 1952 – 2017 and is arranged into 1 series by topic.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by topic.
Gift of Mary Jane Mikuriya in 2017
The Brown University Library also holds the Pembroke Center Oral History Collection (OH.1S.2013.002) that captures the experiences of women faculty and students at Pembroke College and Brown University from 1911 to the present. View finding aid here: https://www.riamco.org/render?eadid=US-RPB-oh.1s.2013.002 Mikuriya contributed an interview to this collection in 2017 that you can view here: https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/pembroke-oral-histories/interview/mary-jane-mikuriya-class-1956