14 page booklet, stapled. Matte off-white paper. Announcements booklet to supplement 1943-1944 school year.
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
BLACK MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Announcements 1943-44
CALENDAR
Fall Quarter Sept 27-Dec 11
Winter Quarter Jan 3-Mar 18
Spring Quarter Mar 27-June 10
Summer Quarter July 3-Sept 16
Each Quarter is 11 weeks
*handwritten dates near each date set, some dates scratched out in pencil marks
EDUCATION IN WARTIME
Black Mountain College has extended its curriculum and revised its calendar to meet the demands of the war. While the immediate and future need of education citizens is more imperative than ever, the present demand for practical effectiveness and speed is also obvious. The accelerated program described below makes graduation possible in three years or less; students are to be encouraged to enter as young an age as feasible; new courses both academic and practical provide training for immediate needs; and continued emphasis on a democratic way of life and on physical development build the moral and physical stamina so essential to these times and to all times.
While adapting itself to the war effort the College retains the basic function of higher education as its major objective: training in thoughtful action, transmission and enhancement of our cultural heritage, and development of a consciousness of those principles for which we are now struggling. The enormous social, economic, political, and ethical problems that the war brings with it- and which the peace will render even more colossal- can be solved only through the application of deep understanding, imaginative intelligence, and true conviction. Education cannot be improvised; good judgement requires a seasoned mind and disciplined feelings.
ACCELERATED PROGRAM
In former years the College held one yearly session of thirty-two weeks. Unless its new, war-time accelerated program it operates on a system of four quarters per year of eleven weeks each. Under this plan students may come for either three or four quarters each year, but because of the war emergency they are encouraged to attend four quarters and hasten their graduation. Students, as heretofore, will continue to graduate when they are prepared to do so, the average time being at the end of twelve quarters.
EXTENSION OF CURRICULUM
The curriculum has been made flexible and in some areas extended to meet certain needs arising from the war. During the past year the College has been training its quota of students in the Enlisted Reserve Officers Training Corps. While these men are now all on active duty, the curriculum remains so arranged that younger men, anticipating induction, may take courses that will give a maximum opportunity for education during their available time before being called for service. Special studies, in languages such as Russian and Polish or in oriental cultures, have also been added to meet the new needs and interests arising from the war. Certain practical courses are also offered, such as first aid and photography. The student, however, has as his main purpose to achieve a solid general education embodying the indispensable values of clear thinking, discipline, method, imagination, will and character.
SOLDIERS EDUCATION PLAN
The College is working out a plan whereby men in the armed forces who are interested in continuing their college education after the war may begin setting aside funds for it now. Under this plan they would make application for entrance to Black Mountain College and, if admitted and with the completion of financial arrangements, would have a place reserved for them in the College at a future fate. The College is willing to receive and hold such funds in trust. In this way it is possible for people, both in armed services and in war industry, to provide now for their future education.
WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAM
In response to present national demand for food production there is considerable emphasis upon farm work this year in the work program. This includes such work as the planting, tending, and harvesting of crops, and the clearing of forest land for pasture. However, experience leading to the acquirement of skills in building and construction and related to studies in architecture is obtainable through activities in connection with necessary maintenance and repair. Once a student’s personal responsibility is established, leadership is developed through opportunities to direct individual projects which range from road building to operating the College Bookstore. These projects are open to men and women equally. An important element in such work is the development of physical fitness. Members of the community now devote an average of three or four afternoons per week to this program.
ADMISSION TO THE STUDENT BODY
The College has never had fixed regulations concerning the age or scholastic background of applicants for admission, since it has preferred to consider each individual case upon its merits. Although most applicants are of usual college age and have completed a four-year course in accredited secondary school, younger students, or students who have not finished secondary school, have been admitted when it seemed likely that they could carry college work. Almost without exception such students have proved to be ready for college. In the present emergency the College will encourage students of this kind to apply, provided their secondary school principals or headmasters recommend them for college entrance before graduation. Although the College knows that genuine education cannot be accelerated beyond a certain point, it does believe that those who can proceed rapidly should be given the opportunity to do so.
WAR TIME SCHOLARSHIPS
In addition to the reductions in fee mentioned below, the College is offering as its contribution to war-time education seventeen Reduced Fee Scholarships, ranging from $750 to $200. Ten of these are for men and seven for women. To make these scholarships available, the fund for fee reductions in 1942-43 has been increased to $46,000, $11,00 more than the $35,000 allotted for this purpose in 1941-42. They may be awarded to students entering during any one of the following quarters: Winter, Spring, or Summer of 1943. At the time of application they must file a confidential statement attesting their financial need for the amount of scholarship for which they apply. Candidates will be judged upon their academic achievement, character, personality, manual and artistic skill.
FEES FOR THE YEAR
Believing that a cross-section of American life, economic as well as geographical, its intrinsic to the idea of the College, and realizing that a student’s ability to pay the full cost of his education is in no sense a criterion of his desirability, the College makes use of a sliding scale in its yearly fee. This scale ranges, according to pay, from $1200 to $450 for room, board, and tuition, for the normal academic year of three quarters. In so far as possible, admission to the student body is made to depend upon personal merit. The Admissions Committee decides on each applicant, in the first instance, quite independently of financial considerations. Unfortunately, lack of endowment and limited resources do not permit as full an expression of this principle as is ultimately desired, since a certain gross income from student fees must be maintained in order to meet the operating expenses of the College. Nevertheless, during the past few years fee reductions ranging from $23,000 to $40,000 annually have been granted.
Those who can are required to bear the full cost of their education, and to pay the full yearly fee of $1200 for the academic year of three quarters. Others pay as much of this fee as they can afford, the deficiency being partially made up from gifts to the College. Since there are more applicants for admission than can be accepted, and since many of these need a large reduction of fee, the competition is, of course, greatest at the lower fee levels, particularly at the minimum fee of $450.
Within the College money is minimized as a basis for the measurement of the individual. No distinction of any kind is made between students paying reduced fees and those paying the full fee, the amount paid by each student being known only to a small financial committee, unless the student himself chooses to reveal it. No provision is made for students to work their way through the College, for the extra-curricular work done by students is regarded as educational activity and is on a voluntary basis with no references to their financial status.
There are available a few tuition scholarships whereby a limited number of students who cannot pay the minimum fee are enables to attend college for less than $450 a year. As vacancies occur in these scholarships, and as new ones are created, awards will be made to entering students, on a basis of merit as determined by the Admissions Committee. Some financial assistance, also, is available from a small Student Loan Fund to students who have attended the College for at least three quarters and whose resources have unexpectedly changed. With the exception of the loans described below in connection with the accelerated program, applicants for admission should have in sight sufficient funds for the total length of time that they expect to attend the College, since in general they will not be eligible to borrow from the fund unless unforeseeable and authentic changes have occurred in their finances. Such loans as are made must be secured by notes signed by the student and endorsed by his parents or guardian. The College believes that a student should rarely borrow, from all sources, more than about $1800 for his education; and that all borrowing should be under such conditions of repayment that the debt contracted will not be too onerous a burden after graduation.
Applicants paying the full fee must submit with their Application for Admissions a signed Financial Agreement, and a new Agreement must be signed every year that they remain in College.
Applicants for a reduction of fee are required annually to make a detailed confidential statement of their families’ financial resources on a blank furnished by the College. This statement must be signed by the person responsible for the payment of fees. From the information submitted the Committee on Student Fees sets what it believes to be a fair fee, taking into account not only the individual circumstances of each case but also the comparative circumstances of all cases. Only in this way can a reasonable equity be maintained. Although fees may vary from year to year depending upon the resources of the applicants’ families, it is generally expected that the initial fee set will be either maintained or increased in subsequent years when initial expenses do not recur. Because of rising costs the College may find it unavoidable, reduced fee has been agreed upon, a Financial Agreement embodying it will be sent for signature to the person responsible for fees; a new Agreement must be signed each year.
No student may enter or remain in residence while any financial arrangements are pending.
All fees will be set on the basis of an academic year of three quarters. Students who follow the accelerated program, attending four quarters in one year, will be charged in addition one third of the fee paid for three quarters. Although it is understood that this arrangement may work a temporary hardship on some people, and even present others from following the accelerated program, the College has no alternative since its income is largely derived from student fees. At their present average level these do not meet educational costs. Thus the total fees for twelve quarters will be the same whether they are spread over three years or four. It may be pointed out, however, that a year’s personal expenses will be saved by following the accelerated program. It is anticipated that in many cases the additional expense for a fourth quarter will have to be met by borrowing. In such cases the College will cooperate by suggesting possible sources of help where such are known and, in a very limited number of instances may be able to lend up to one half of the additional fee for a fourth quarter taken within any given twelve-month period. Such loans would be repaid during what would otherwise have been the fourth year of the student’s attendance at College. Loans for the fourth quarter may be applied for after two quarters of residence.
For personal expenses students need per quarter at least $20 to $30, exclusive of transportation.
PAYMENT OF FEES
The College will guarantee the reservation of a place in the student body only if a deposit of $200 payable upon notification of admission. This deposit is not refundable if for any reason withdrawal occurs later than thirty days prior to proposed entrance date, since such withdrawal may create a vacancy which otherwise would have been filled. This deposit is credited to the year’s account of the entering student.
The yearly fee is payable as follows:
Deposit thirty days prior to entrance Full Fee $200.00 Reduced Fee $200.00
On entrance Full fee $400.00 Reduced Fee Two-fifths of the balance
Opening date of next quarter $400.00 Two-fifths of the balance
Opening date of third quarter $200.00 The balance
If a student attends all four quarters in a given year, the extra fee for the fourth quarter is due as follows: one half of fee for this quarter thirty days prior to opening date of quarter; balance on opening date of quarter.
For new students entering more than three weeks after a quarter has begun special adjustments will be made.
The only other fees are:
Application fee $5.00
Contingency deposit $25.00
Examination for graduation $25.00
Fee for late payment of any bill $10.00
The application fee must accompany application for admission to the College and is not refundable. Applicants who are accepted by the College should make the contingency deposit of $25 within ten days of notification of acceptance, since admission does not become effective until this deposit is received. It is not refundable if the new student fails to enter. While a student is in attendance it must be maintained; but any unused portion of it is refunded upon graduation or withdrawal. Bills are payable on the date of the bill and if not paid within ten days are subject to the fee for late payment.
In cases where students are called into military services charges are made on an exact pro rata basis only for the time they have attended. Any amount in excess of this that has been paid is refunded. All future tuition payments although contracted for are of course canceled.
FACULTY
Anni Albers Textile Design
Private Art School, Berlin; Kunstgewerbe School, Hamburg; Bauhaus, Weimar; Bauhaus Diploma.
With Weaving Department of Bauhaus, 1925-1929. Work in weaving exhibited in Europe and the United States. Weavings in permanent collections of National Museum of Munich, and Textile Museum, Zwickau.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
Josef Albers Art
Royal Art School, Berlin; Kunstgewerbe School, Essen; Art Academy, Munich; Bauhaus, Weimar.
Positions in German public schools; at the Bauhaus, Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin, 1923-1933. Appointment to a professorship, 1930. Works exhibited widely in Europe and the Americas. Guest lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design, since 1936. Visiting Instructor, summer school, Harvard University, 1941.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
Eric Russell Bentley Social Science
Oxford University, B.A., B.Litt.; Yale University, Ph.D.
Sometime History Scholar at University College, Oxford; Research Scholar at New College, Oxford; taught English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and at University of California at Los Angeles; Charles Oldham Scholarship for Shakespeare criticism at Oxford; John Addison Porter Prize at Yale for the year’s best piece of scholarly writing of general human interest; graduate of the Guildhall School of Music; studied acting under John Gielgud and Esme Church.
Currently writing for the Nation, Partisan Review, Books Abroad, New Mexico Quarterly Review, Rocky Mountain Review.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
Frederic Cohen Music
Universities of Leipzig, Berlin, Bonn, Cologne; Konservatorium and Hochshule der Musik, Leipzig and Cologne.
Conductor and State Director, Opera Munster, Westphalia; Stage Director, Opera Wurzburg; Professor at Folkwangschulen; Director of Opera, Essen; Director of Jooss Ballet; Staff Member, Dartington Hall, England.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
Theodore Dreier Mathematics
Harvard College, A.B.; Harvard Engineering School, S.B. in E.E.
Positions with General Electric Company, 1925-1930; Rollins College, 1930-1933.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
Franziska de Graaff French
University of Leyden, Ph.D.; Sorbonne; Columbia University, Middlebury Language School.
Visiting Instructor of Languages, Reed College, 1940-1941.
Black Mountain College since 1942
Mary Gregory Woodworking
Bennington College, A.B.
Position in Art Department, Cambridge School, 1937-1941.
Black Mountain College since 1941.
Franz Hansgirg Chemistry and Physics
University of Graz, Ph.D.
Research Chemist with Fanto Oil Company, Austria; founder of Electrothermic Company, Switzerland; honorary lecturer of Applied Chemistry and Electrothermic Processes at University of Mining and Metallurgy, Austria; consulting engineer and Vice President, American Magnesium Metals Corporation; Vice-President, Japanese Magnesium Company; Consulting Engineer for Permanente Corporation; designer of Henry J Kaiser magnesium defense plant at Permanente, California.
Inventor of many industrial processes, including carbothermic magnesium process.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
Heinrich Jalowets Music
University of Vienna, Dr. Phil.; composition with Arnold Schoenberg.
First conductor at the Deutsches Theater in Prague, 1916-1923; first conductor at the Opernhaus in Cologne, 1925-1933; conductor of orchestra concerts in Vienna, Prague, Cologne, Berlin; summer school, Conservatory of Toronto, 1939.
Black Mountain College since 1939.
Elsa Kahl Eukinetics
Westphalian School of Dance, Music and Speech, Munster.
Solo Dancer, Munchener Tanzgruppe; Ballet Master, Opera Hagen; Solo Dancer, Opera Munster, Opera Essen, Jooss Ballet, Dartington Hall, England.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
*Alfred Lawrence Kocher Architecture
Stanford University, A.B.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Pennsylvania State College, M.A.; New York University.
Positions as Head of the Department of Architecture, Pennsylvania State College, 1916-1925; Head of the Department of Architecture, University of Virginia, 1926-1928; Editor of The Architectural Record, 1928-1938; Visiting Professor of Architecture, Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1938-1940; Practicing architect, 1916-, Author of Early Architecture of Pennsylvania, Color in Early American Architecture, New Materials and New Construction Methods.
Black Mountain College, 1940.
Kenneth Kurtz English and American Literature
Jamestown College, A.B.; Yale University; Oxford University, B.A.
Positions at Western State College, Colorado, 1933-1936; California Institute of Technology, 1936-1937; Deep Springs College, 1937-1938; Colorado State Teachers college, summer sessions. Rhodes Scholar for North Dakota, 1930-1933.
Black Mountain College, 1938.
G E Mattison Marketing
Antioch College, 1923-1925; W H Sawyer Lumber Company, Worcester, Massachusetts, Merchandise Manager, 1925-1941; Antioch College, Assistant to President, 1941-1942.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
Herbert A Miller Social Science
Dartmouth, A.B., A.M.; Harvard, Ph.D.
Positions as Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College; University of California; Ohio State University; gave courses at Yenching University, Peiping, China; lectured at universities of China, India, Syria; Professor of Social Economy, Bryn Mawr; survey of immigrant conditions and school facilities for immigrants, Cleveland, Ohio, for Russell Sage Foundation; division chief, study of immigrant heritages, Carnegie Corporation; Visiting Professor, Temple University; Beloit College; Penn State College; Director of American Seminar for Refugee Scholars, summers 1940-1943.
Author of the School and the Immigrant, Old World Traits Translated, Races, Nations and Classes, The Beginnings of Tomorrow.
Black Mountain College, 1943.
Robert C Orr Economics
University of Wisconsin, A.B., 1921; University of Berlin, 1923; Sorbonne, 1924.
References Assistant New York Public Library, 1925-1927; A B Leach Company, New York, investment analyst, 1927-1930; George Livermore Company, Chicago, senior accountant, 1930-1937; Wood & Hagin, New York, office manager, 1938-1939; Director of Construction and Sale, Housing Development, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1939-1940; Elmhirst Contracting Company, New York, senior accountant, 1941-1942.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
Erwin Walter Straus Psychology and Philosophy
Universities of Berlin, Zurich, Munich, Goettingen, Dr. Med.
Positions with Charite and Poliklinic Hospitals, Berlin, 1919-1933; University of Berlin, 1927-1936. Guest lecturer at Universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leyden, Utrecht, 1933, Sorbonne, 1935, Practicing physician, 1923-1936. Editor of “Nervenarzt”, 1928-1935. Author of Wesen and Vorgang der Suggestion, Atlas der Elektrodiangnostik, Geschehnis und Erlebnis, Vom Sinn der Sinne.
Black Mountain College, 1938.
Gertrud Elise Straus Violin
State Academy of Music, Munich, diploma; Teachers’ Seminar of the State Academy of Music, Munich.
Member of the Studeny String Quartet; concert violinist.
Black Mountain College since 1938.
Lou Bernard Voigt Botany and Landscape Architecture
University of Illinois, B.S.; Harvard University, M.L.A.
Position with Daniel Urban Kiley, L.A.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
H Macguire Wood Building Construction, Director Work-Experience Program
Antioch College, A.B., 1927.
Builder, Rochester, New York, and Delray Beach, Florida, 1927-1942.
Black Mountain College since 1942.
William Robert Wunsch Dramatics
University of North Carolina, A.B.; Teachers College of Columbia University; Rollins College, M.A.
Positions at Monroe High School, Louisiana, 1920-1922; Greensboro High School, North Carolina, 1924-1926; Asheville High School, North Carolina, 1926-1931; Rollins College, 1931-1933; Louisville Male High School, Kentucky, 1933-1935; Demonstration Summer School of Progressive Education Association at Alabama Women’s College, 1935, 1936, 1937; Progressive Education Workshop at Sarah Lawrence College, summer 1938; Colorado State College of Education, summer 1939. President of North Carolina Dramatic Association, 1926-1928, 1929-1930, 1932-1933, 1938. Demonstration teacher of Creative Writing and Dramatics and staff member of the General Education Workshop and the Teacher Education Workshop at the University of Chicago, summer 1940.
Black Mountain College since 1935.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Arthur S. Adams, Ithaca, New York
Assistant Dean, College of Engineering, Cornell University
Francis F. Bradshaw Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dean of Students, University of North Carolina
John E. Burchard, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Director, Albert Farwell Bemis Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Samuel S. Cooley, Black Mountain, North Carolina
Captain, U.S. Army Medical Corps
Fernando de los Rios, New York, New York
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spanish Republic
John Dewey New York, New York
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Columbia University
Adrian J. Dornbush, Washington, District of Columbia
Associate Director of WPA Act Program
Ethel E. Dreier Fort Salonga, New York
Josephine W. Duveneck, Los Altos, California
Ethel C. Forbes, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Lucy Gage Nashville, Tennessee
Professor of Elementary Education, Peabody College
Sarah Goodwin Concord, Massachusetts
Walter Gropius Lincoln, Massachusetts
Chairman, School of Architecture, Harvard University
Anna D. Jamieson, Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Joseph Katz Baltimore, Maryland
President, Joseph Katz Advertising Company
Walter Locke Dayton, Ohio
Editor, Dayton Daily News
Herminio Poretll Vila, Havana, Cuba
Instituto Cultural Cubano-NorteAmericano; Professor of History, University of Havana
Malcolm Ross Washington, District of Columbia
Director of Information, National Labor Relations Board
Herbert W. Sanders, Black Mountain, North Carolina
Executive Secretary, Blue Ridge Association
Karl Terzhagi, Winchester, Massachusetts
Professor of Soil Mechanics, Harvard University
Robert R. Williams, Asheville, North Carolina
Attorney
