7p, one sided. Mimeograph on matte off white paper. Lists courses being offered. Lists those working in the Work Camp: Koon Hing Cheang, Thomas Emmons, Alexander Halpern, Will Hamlin, Eric Haugaard, Priscilla Huntington, Roman Maciejczyk, Robert Marden, Aristide Mavridis, Faith Murray, Jane Murray, Isaac Nakata, Boonyong Nikrodhananda, Ansui Nimmanahaeminda, John O'Neill, Zoya Sandomirsky, Edwin Shepherd, Claude Stoller, Dahong Wang. Also lists work finished and work still to be completed. Stapled in top left corner. page three has hand written note in ink on the side. "[illegible] is 9 [illegible]"
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
Mid-Summer Report, 1942
SUMMER QUARTER
The College’s first Summer Quarter, inaugurated to make an accelerated program possible, opened on June 22. Included among the students enrolled are some who are attending for the summer only, some who are beginning their regular course of study at BMC, and some who are continuing from last semester.
The Summer School enrollment consists of:
William Berry Portage, Wisconsin
Mrs Willard Helburn Cambridge, Massachusetts
Norman Jamieson Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Patsy Lunch St. Louis, Missouri
Myra Moss Brooklyn, New York
Herbert Oppenheimer Crestwood, New York
Barbara Payne Pleasantville, New York
Barbara Pollet Great Neck, Long Island
Tanya Sprager Los Angeles, California
Paul Snyder Annapolis, Maryland
Maja Tschernjakow Forest Hills, Long Island
The following courses are being offered during the First Session of the summer Quarter. Most of them will be continued during the Second Session.
Readings in Political Philosophy Dr Straus
Introduction to the History of Western Civilization Mr Bentley
Readings in Literature Mr Kurtz
Fundamental Design Me Albers
Advanced Weaving Mrs Albers
French Conversation Miss de Graaff
Music Theory Dr Jalowetz
Ensemble Music and Piano Lessons Dr Jalowetz
Chorus Dr Jalowetz
Dramatics Mr Bentley and Mr Wunsch
Architecture (for Architecture students in Work Camp) Mr Kocher
Public lectures, on different contemporary topics, have been presented once a week by members of the community.
WORK CAMP
In conjunction with the Summer Quarter, the College is operating a Work Camp, similar to that of last summer. The Work Program, in which Summer School students also participate, has been under the direction of Mr Dreier, Miss Gregory, and Mr Kocher. Construction work is supervised by the College builder, Mr Godfrey; farm work, by the College farmer, Mr Penley.
Koon Hing Cheang Shanghai, China
Thomas Emmons Chevy Chase, Maryland
Alexander Halpern Bronx, New York
Will Hamlin Northampton, Massachusetts
Eric Haugaard Cambridge, Massachusetts
Priscilla Huntington Knoxville, Tennessee
Roman Maciejczyk Brooklyn, New York
Robert Marden Boston, Massachusetts
Aristide Mavridis Athens, Greece
Faith Murray Charleston, South Carolina
Jane Murray Charleston, South Carolina
Isaac Nakata Honolulu, Hawaii
Boonyong Nikrodhananda Bangkok, Thailand
Ansui Nimmanahaeminda Chiengal City, Thailand
John O’Neill Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Zoya Sandomirsky Chicago, Illinois
Edwin Shepherd Palm Beach, Florida
Claude Stoller Bronx, New York
Dahong Wang Chungking, China
More Work Campers are expected during August.
The activities of the Work Camp, as in the 1941 Camp, include construction work, farming, repairing equipment, remodeling, et cetera. The Work Campers also participate in some of the classes, in the dramatics, and in the musical activities. Considerable work has been accomplished and is in progress, as indicated below:
Work finished
Milking house
Mountain Stream Bridge
Terrace on Jalowetz house
Tool shed and workshop
Shelves in Linen closets
Library extension (front)
Roof repairs
Sun-deck on Studies Bldg painted
Dining room tables painted
Work in progress
Kitchen extension
Library extension (rear)
Parking area near office
Insulation of Roadside attic
Landscaping
Small maintenance jobs
STUDENT OFFICERS
Two Student Officers have been elected for the Summer Quarter, one to represent the students, the other to represent the Work Campers. They are, respectively, Bob Marden and Boonyong Nikrodhananda.
FARM
Expansion of the farm continues. Seventy-four acres of crops are under cultivation, some on rented lands nearby and at Blue Ridge. Four stacks of oats have been harvested from the Blue Ridge planting and 25 acres of soy beans have been sown in their place. Thirty acres are in corn; four acres of vegetables have supplied the College table with potatoes, peas, beets, onions, carrots, radishes, corn, and other produce. A fall garden, which will come in during September and October will soon be planted.
The three Guernsey milk cows have supplied all but a very small portion of the milk and cream consumed by the community. The herd of 24 beef cattle, plus a number of calves, is pastured on top of the ridge. The Gate House pasture has been fenced and is now used by the milk cows.
Pigs now number about 50; eight were recently sold at a large profit.
A flock of laying hens is being raised as well as one of chickens for eating. The latter flock has already supplied one dinner.
FALL ENROLLMENT
The following new students have been admitted for entrance this summer or next fall:
Henry Adams Lenoir, North Carolina
*Thomas Emmons Chevy Chase, Maryland
Cornelia Goldsmith Wilwaukee, Wisconsin
Otis Levy Hartford, Connecticut
Rosemary Littledale Short Hills, New Jersey
#Herbert Oppenheimer Crestwood, New York
#Barbara Payne Pleasantville, New York
#Paul Snyder Annapolis, Maryland
*attending Work Camp #attending Summer School
Fifteen applications are under consideration, and a good number of application blanks have been requested. A number of old students are not yet sure as to whether or not they can return. The Admissions Committee, on the basis of present data, believes that the enrollment may reach 65 (two more than last spring), and that a capacity enrollment is not out of question. Last year at this time 9 students had been definitely admitted and 13 applications were under consideration.
*handwritten note in margin
ARMY ENLISTED RESERVE CORPS
The War Department has just approved the College’s petition for a quota in the Enlisted Reserve Crops. The size of the quota is now being determined; all eligible old and new students will be sent detailed information as soon as it is available.
The purpose of the Corps is, “to insure for the Army a future source of qualified officer candidates from college graduates, and, to the extent necessary to accomplish this purpose, to encourage students to enroll and continue in college”.
The general procedure in the Corps is this: properly qualified students enlist and are deferred until graduation provided they pass a qualifying examination after a certain time in college, and provided the necessity of war does not demand their being called to active duty. Upon graduation the majority will go into the Army, first to take a basic training course, and second to study at an Officer Training School. Specially qualified students may, on graduation from college, be recommended to continue their studies.
The College has also applied to the Navy to participate in the V-1 Program; no decision has yet been given.
BMC ALUMNI IN THE WAR EFFORT
The College does not have complete information on the war work being done by former students and teachers. The following list is therefore only partial.
Eric Barnitz, 629 Gayley Avenue, Los Angeles, California (studying meteorology for Army service)
Derek Bovingdon, AFTD, Squadron 1, Oxnard, California
Lucian Crane, Army
Thomas Dalton, Merchant Marine
Duncan Dwight, Co I, 307th Inf, 77th Division, Ft Jackson, SC
Harriett Engelhardt, 7 Woodward Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama (aviation mechanic learner)
George Hendrickson, A-5-2, Field Artillery Reserve Corps, Ft Bragg, NC
John Kasik, Co H, 2nd Bat, 801st Sig Ser Reg, Camp Murphy, Hobe Sound, Florida
Roman Maciejczyk, Army Air Corps (awaiting induction)
Robert Marden, Army Air Corps Reserve (deferred until June 1948)
Bela Martin, Aviation Cadet, CB-2-211, US Naval Air Station, Miami, Florida
Claude Monteux, Army Shows
Robert Orr, US Navy
Don Page, Reception Center (Interviewer), Fort Jackson, SC
George Randall, Sergeant, QMC, Army Shows, Fort Meade, Maryland
Harold Raymond, Co C, 6th Bn ERTC, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Morris Simon, Medical Corps, Fort Lee, Virginia
Carolyn Spencer, taking meteorology course to become Junior Observer
Emery Whipple, US Marines
Paul Wiggin, Merchant Marine
A number of other students are reported to be in service, but the branch is unknown.
Faculty and staff members:
Robert S Babcock, 724 South Lee Street, Alexandria, Virginia (Attached to Foreign Funds Control, Treasury Department)
Roland Boyden, Lieutenant (Junior Grade), Intelligence, US Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island
Rachel Dwinell, USO, YMCA, Fort Slocum, New York
Charles H Lindsley, University, Virginia (Special scientific research)
Joseph W Wartin, Washington, DC, (Office of Facts and Figures when last heard from)
MONEY RAISING AND PUBLICITY
During the month of June, Mr Albers, Mr Kocher, and Mr Mangold spent over-lapping intervals in the East on College business. Mr Dreier spent most of July in the North, and after a short trip back to the College has returned to the North. He can be reached through the Harvard Club of New York City, 27 West 44 Street.
Progress is being made in securing funds necessary for next year. The war makes money raising more difficult than in previous years, but there is no reason to doubt that persistent effort will be successful. Funds already in hand and pledged amount to half of the goal set for this summer.
Four pages of the July 7 issue of “PIC” were devoted to pictures of the College. The photographs were those taken last fall by Michael Levelle.
FACULTY
Mr Eric Russell Betley, Visiting Instructor in History, has been offering work in History and Dramatics during the Summer Quarter. Mr Bentley was born in England in studied at Oxford, where he took an AB degree (First Class) in English, and an AB Litt. He held a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship at Yale from 1939-41, receiving a PhD. His doctoral dissertation won the John Addison Porter Prize. Besides English and History Mr Bentley has studied the drama and music; as a pianist he is a Licentiate of the Guidhall School of Music in London. Last year he was on the Faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles.
During the first session of the Summer School Mr Bentley directed a class-room production of Saroyan’s Pulitzer-Prize Play, “The Time of Your Life”.
John Evarts enlisted in the Army on June 6 and was sent to the Induction Center at Ft Jackson, SC. He was rejected because of an incisional hernia and returned to the College. On June 20 he was operated on in an Asheville hospital and is now convalescing at the College. He plans to enlist again in the autumn.
The College regrets to announce the resignation of Miss Jessie Ann Nelson, Instructor in Music during the past year and Apprentice Teacher during the previous year. Miss Nelson resigned in order to accept a position with the Columbia Broadcasting Company, where she is at present being trained as a technician in the engineering department. Her New York address is 48 West 12 Street.
Other losses to the College have been occasioned by the War. Mr Babcock left in May to accept a position with the Treasury Department in the Division of Foreign Funds Control. My Boyden secured a Commission in the Navy in June. Mr French will be in governmental work before next fall. Mr Lindsley’s research work, begun last September, will probably continue for the duration.
It is with deep sorrow that the College announces the death of Dr J Richard Carpenter, Assistant Professor of Biology, at the Duke Memorial Hospital on July 16. Dr Carpenter, who was a member of the Faculty for two years, underwent an operation early in June. Although he recovered sufficiently to return to the College for two weeks, complications developed that necessitated his return to the hospital. During the last days of his illness his mother, Mrs John B Carpenter of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Miss Jessie Ann Nelson of New York City, and Mr Robert Wunsch, were with him. The funeral and burial were held at Grand Rapids. A memorial service was helf at the College on July 26.
Dr Carpenter was 31 years old. He received the degree of BS from the University of Illinois in 1932, and the degree of MA and PhD from the University of Oklahoma in 1934 and 1939. From 1935 to 1938 he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar from Oklahoma. While at Black Mountain he did notable work in building up the Biology laboratory and library, and he was regarded by his students as a teacher of exceptional skill. His death is a very real personal loss to the community.
NOTES
The cosmopolitan aspect of the College has always been noteworthy; this summer it is especially so. A few biographical notes about some of the members of the Work Camp may be of interest:
Four graduate students from the Harvard School of Architecture are fulfilling Harvard’s requirement of practical work experience at the Work Camp. Mr Cheang is a native of Shanghai. He received much of his earlier training in England and studied with the Architectural Associates in London; last year was his first year at Harvard. Mr Nikrodhanada comes from Bangkok, Thailand. He has studied in England, Cornell (1939-41), and Harvard (1941-42). Mr Nimmanhaeminda, from Chiengai City, Thailand, also studied in England (Liverpool University), and Cornell before going to Harvard. Mr Wang was born in Pekin. He studied at Geneva and at King’s College, Cambridge. His father, once a judge at the International Court in the Hague and for several years Minister of Foreign Affairs in China, is at present in charge of the Chinese Civilian Defense.
Mr Aristide Mavridis is a refugee from Greexe, where he was at one time Secretary General for Agriculture. Escaping from the Nazis he went to Crete, to Egypt, and finally to the United States, where he now lives with his brother-in-law, Mr Cimon Diamantopoulos, the Minister from Greece.
Other refugees from Hitler’s armies are Mr and Mrs Anatole Kopp, who attended the Camp for a week while on a traveling fellowship from MIT. He is a Frenchman and she is Swedish. On his escape from France last year he came to this country where both of them have been studying at MIT, he in Architecture and she in Chemistry.
*****
Miss Sue Spayth, of Dunellen, New Jersey, and Mr Jeremiah Wolpert, of East Orange, were married in June. Mrs Wolpert has a position in the offices of Time, Inc; Mr Wolpert, when last heard from, was expecting to be inducted into the Army this month.
*****
Ruthabeth Krueger, of Wheatridge, Colorado, who finished her first year at BMC in June, was awarded a full scholarship in violin at the Berkshire Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. This scholarship, for the summer, was won in a nation-wide competition. On August 21 Miss Krueger will appear as soloist with the St Louis Little Symphony, under the direction of Stanley Chapple.
*****
During the Spring Semester the Architecture Class worked on designs for bomb shelters. These were sent to Mr John Burchard, Chairman of the Committee for Civilian Defense of the National Academy of Science, and member of the College’s Advisory Council. They were entered in competition with designs submitted by architectural students from Princeton and MIT. The design made by Don Page was given honor ranking; a full-sized section will be built this summer, in Cambridge, for testing purposes.
*****
In May, Faith Murray, of Charleston, South Carolina, completed a mural – The Weaver – on the door of the Art Room in the Student Studies Building. The mural depicts Don Page, first graduate of BMC in Textile Design, at a loom. Mr Albers says of the mural: “After thorough studies and experiments for several months, she achieved an excellent result. The mural is executed in casein painting. The technique is such that the wood of the door appears through the painting and functions not only as the panel but also furnishes color and texture. Despite the limited palette- the main colors are modulations of black and white- the painting is colorful and warm. This mural realizes- as an exceptional case- the demands of both old and new muralists case- the demands of both old and new muralists that the wall (in this case the door) be respected as a recognizable as, an essential element of the composition.”
*****
Leslie Katz, who is acting as Alumni Secretary on invitation of the Board of Fellows, has received an encouraging response from a letter sent to former BMC students in June. The letter suggested a closer and more effective organization of Former Students, and pointed out some of the advantages to former students in keeping in touch with the College.
*****
Alumni visitors this summer have included a number of students stationed at military camps within reach of the College: Duncan Dwight, George Hendrickson, John Kasik, Morris Simon, Emery Whipple.
Barbara Beatty and Nancy Russ spent two weeks at the College in June.
Mr Gorman E Mattison, Assistant to the President of Antioch, and Professor Manmatha N Charierjee of Antioch, visited in July.
VACANCIES
For the vacancies in the Music Department occasioned by the resignation of Miss Nelson and the enlistment of John Evarts a number of candidates are under consideration. Appointments will be made during August.
Mr Clark Foreman, who was offered an appointment in the field of Social Studies, was called to accept a commission in the Navy and cannot consider joining the College staff for the duration. Negotiations are under way to make it possible for Dr Arthur Raper to be at the College next year.
Any readers of this bulletin who know possible candidates for an instructor in Biology and for a secretarial vacancy kindly communicate with The Secretary, Black Mountain College.
