Vivian (Fain) Friedman, LA'46
On how many female students there were in Vivian's 1943 class: “We came in three shifts pretty much. There was a group that came in in May. A very small group ... When I came in, there were about 17 of us and then in September about 30 people came in.”
Listen to the full clip.
Vivian, right, at a Northeastern event in 2010.
On the changes Northeastern made to accomodate the first female students: “We had to make our way. Some classes were still in the YMCA, and they had to work things around so that the females could go into the YMCA building.”
Listen to the full clip.
In 1943, Vivian entered Northeastern as part of the first class to accept female students. Above are some of her classmates, the first six women to enroll.
On her co-op experience at Weymouth Art Leather Company: “The man who ran the plant was a chemical engineer who was a graduate of Northeastern and had come through the co-op program. He was the manager of the plant, or the owner ... he ran the whole works there.”
Listen to the full clip.
On the work she did at her co-op: “They were doing some testing for the Army, so when they had tests for that I was brought in ... We were doing burn tests and we were doing coating, to find out how much heat certain things would take.”
Listen to the full clip.
This article ran on the front page of the May 12, 1943 edition of the Northeastern News (now the Huntington News).
On students being called to active military duty during the war: “Everybody was in it, every able-bodied person ... That’s why Northeastern had to bring [the female students] in. They had to stay alive and it was a way of staying alive.”
Listen to the full clip.
On her involvement with the United Service Organizations (USO): “That was out of Quincy. I would do most of my homework on the train in the afternoon and then I’d go out to the USO and dance ... I had a very active social life as far as the military was concerned, because I could go to the USO any night of the week.”
Listen to the full clip.
Vivian, who is sitting third from the left in the first row, was very involved in Northeastern student life, including participation in the drama society.
On the return of students from overseas during World War II: “It was tough for them to come back. They had been out of school for a few years and they had been to a war and they had been through all kinds of stuff ... It was tough.”
Listen to the full clip.
Vivian, standing in the back row wearing a hat, attended a 50th reunion for Northeatern's first female class, in 1993.
On the campus in the 1940s: “Campus was tiny compared to what it is today. There were two of the modern buildings: there was Richards Hall and what we called the ‘new’ building or the ‘north’ building, which was of diagonally across the quad.”
Listen to the full clip.
This interview is available in its entirety in the Northeastern University Archives. Photos: Vivian Friedman, Office of Alumni Relations, the Cauldron yearbook, and University Library Archives and Special Collections Department. Compiled by Jessica Melanson.
Biography
Vivian (Fain) Friedman arrived at Northeastern at the start of World War II as a member of the University’s first female undergraduate class. She graduated in 1946 and worked as a math teacher in suburban New York after her time at Northeastern.