UNOW & Then is an oral history project in collaboration with University NOW Day Nursery, Princeton University students, and community members. Through audio interviews, archival research, contextual essays, and multimedia exhibits, the project will preserve and interpret UNOW’s first 50 years.

UNOW opened its doors in September 1970. Founded by the local chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and supported by Princeton University, the nursery has deep feminist roots.

UNOW’s founders had a radical vision for the time, with gender equality and anti-sex stereotyping at the program’s core. The nursery provided full-day hours so that women, especially single mothers, could attend college or work.  The founders viewed childcare as a profession that performed valuable work—not simply as a “women’s issue.”

In 2020, UNOW will celebrate its semicentennial.  Generations of Princeton families have sustained UNOW for fifty years. In some ways, it is still the child of its passionate founders. In others, it has evolved with the times. UNOW & Then has a rich story to tell.