3p, first page one sides, second two front and back, mimeograph on matte off white paper. New secretaries: Arlyn McKenna, Doris Dollen and Henriotta Darth. Visitors- Mr. and Mrs. Jean Charlot and their two children, Miss Kay Franey, Janie King (her dad, Jim King, was once a member of the teaching staff of BMC).
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE COMMUNITY BULLETIN
College Year 10 Summer Bulletin 13
Monday, September 6, 1943
CALENDAR:
Jean Charlot will give a slide illustrated lecture on “Mexican Tradition and Art” in the College Dining Hall on Tuesday evening beginning at 8:30 o’clock.
There will be a meeting of the Faculty and the Student Officers on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock “Six Characters In Search of an Author” on Wednesday evening at 7:15 o’clock in the Kocher Room.
The Board of Fellows will meet at 5:00 o’clock on Thursday afternoon in Study 10
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Josef Albers will talk informally to the Black Mountain Art Club at the Oak Knoll Studies Wednesday evening.
A number of Mr. Albers paintings are not being exhibited in the Oak Knoll Studies, along with the works of thirty three other artists, among whom are several teachers from various parts of the United States and several soldiers stationed at the Moore General Hospital.
Betty Brett will take her written examinations on September 6, 7, and 8. Her adviser, Eric Bentley, will then take her papers to New York City where they, will be read by her examiner, Dr. Jacques Barzun of the Department of History of Columbia University. Dr. Barzun is the author of Darwin, Marx, Wagner and is well known to radio listeners for the prominent part he has played in the Invitation to Learning programs. Dr. Barzun writes that he is “happy to form a connection” with a college of which he “has heard so much.” He will give Betty her oral examination on Wednesday, September 15.
Dr Barzun’s philosophy is quite different from that of the History Department at Black Mountain College. This was the reason why he was asked to be an examiner. “Thought it may be embarrassing” he wrote, “for the candidate to be caught in the cross-fire of opposing doctrines, such conflicts are an essential part of liberal education.”
Clark Foreman has been invited by the Board of Fellows to teach American History, General Economic Theory and United States Government at Black Mountain College during the 1943-44 session. Dr. Foreman will visit Lake Eden on Saturday with his wife and three children on his way to Highland, North Carolina, for a short vacation.
Jack Gifford and Ted Fines, under the direction of Bob Wunsch, will write publicity stories on Black Mountain College for the Asheville Citizen and Times during September.
Lillian Orr returned yesterday morning from New York City with Daniel and Janie.
Paul Radin wires his response to the invitation of the Board of Fellows to return to Black Mountain College this session: “Plan to come in January and stay till end of the academic year.”
Bob Wunsch will resume his work in dramatics with the Swannanoa High School pupils on Tuesday afternoon.
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN- Summer Bulletin #13- page 2
The members of the Black Mountain College Community are invited to attend the art exhibition in the Oak Knoll Studios in Black Mountain. The exhibition is open to the public each afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 o’clock and on Tuesday and Friday evenings after 7:30 o’clock. The exhibition will continue through September 12.
Textile Workers of America will arrive at Lake Eden on September 18 for their annual five day convention.
WITH THE 1942-43 STUDENTS:
New Addresses:
Betty Kelley
c/o Bonillins
217 Locust Avenue
Garwood, New Jersey
A/C Robert H. Marden
Squadron A-X, 44E
A.A.F.P.F.S. (Pilot)
Maxwell Field, Alabama
Excerpts From Recent Letters:
Issac Nakata writes: “Dear Community, The Camp Shelby Branch of B.M.C. assembled tonight for a general meeting. Those present were Emil Willimetz, Thomas Wentworth and Issac Nakata. Being short of secretarial help of the female blond type, Issac Nakata was appointed secretary, the best we could do at this point of the war. Please excuse his writing because his feet hurt and his mind is numb and half-baked.
It was reassuring to us to know that B.M.C. is going to continue this fall. In some ways B.M.C. is our spiritual home. This we realize now more than ever before because of the contrast with the dull monotony of army life. Pvt. Wentworth has drawn an early furlough and hopes to visit Black Mountain during the second week of September, to be the official representative of the Mississippi branch of the College; lucky bum!
Pvts. Willimetz and Nakata would like to go too, but regret that the army cannot spare their (our) time. We regret to inform you that this meeting is now being adjourned in favour of the urgent call for bingo players downstairs in the Service Club No.5 where our meeting was convened. Wrote by hand (right), this 31st day of August 1943.
Pvt. Issac S. Nakata, 34085802
Pvt. Secretary
Also:
Tom, 34774422
Emil, 36905615
WITH FORMER STUDENTS:
New Addresses:
Will Hamlin
Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation
II East 62nd Street
New York City, New York
Frances Kuntz
Hotel Earle
103 Waverly Place
New York City, New York
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN- Summer Bulletin #13- page 3
Private Bernard Malek, A.S.N. 32985875
Co.C. 27th M.T.B., Fourth Platoon
Camp Grant, Illinois
Excerpts From Recent Letters:
Will Hamlin writes from New York City:” For me it has been a very busy time, with the Foundation doing more work than it has a number of years, much publicity, a constant schedule of testing and interpretation, and no spare time of any kind… I’ve wondered from time to time whether some vital and challenging personality or problem wasn’t almost a necessity at Black Mountain College, to bring it again to life—another Rice to make the students cry at general meetings; another building project to get them excited about things in general. I don’t think on a long time of reflection, that this is adolescent unhappiness; I feel that this is a very real need in any community as in any country… There was a kind of passion in the Lee Hall air, and whether such passions are healthy or not, they are exciting, and I think help to make people into people, instead of just college boys and girls. There was something very important in exactly the remoteness the college on the mountain implied- in its rugged living of its own life, and the valley, working out its own problems with its own people. It is of course partly romantic dreaming to say that such a thing ever existed or ever could exist—yet I think there may be some metaphysical truth in it. Straus says we live in a physiognomical world—and I think he is right. We symbolized a lot for ourselves by the decayed magnificence of the building we lived in—by the physical unity of the plant, and its altitudinous separation from the rest of North Carolina; by the formal formality’ of tess and dances and dressing for dinner. I wonder if it is a possibility that such a thing might be again, or if such impractical yet beautiful idealism is only for the first struggling years of an insecure institution, to be given up as soon as it reaches a certain maturity of thinking and plant.”
Frances Kuntz writes from New York City; Well, here I am, Stuck in New York City, waiting the graces of Mr. Bay and Mrs. Bernstein- that is Howard Bay, is going to let me do odd jobs and research for him, and I may tour with a couple of the shows he’s working on- “One Man’s Venus” and the Negro ”Carmen”. Maybe I’ll get near enough B.M.C. to visit that way….. I’m living in the Village until my apartment is vacant in October, I see quite a bit of the B.M.C.er’s here. Mendez is pleased, and rightfully, for he sold a story to the New Yorker for $150.00. It appeared in the 25th of August issue… Will, Fernando, Polly, Peggy and Mary Rose are also around. We’re all happy, if a little hot in this hell of a city…. Bernando is now in the army- stationed at Camp Grant in Illinois, and in the Medical Corps. He seems to like it…..”
News:
Lieutenant Bela Martin was married on Thursday, September 2, in Nashville, Tennessee to Virginia Allison. The (*word unrecognizable, double or triple typed) are spending a brief honeymoon on Sea Island in Georgia.
A/C Herbert Oppenheimer has been spending a great deal of his free time at Fisk University, the famous Negro Institution in Nashville. He is very eager for Black Mountain College and Fisk University to exchange students and teachers for a short space of time.
THE MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN SEMINAR:
Miss Mignon Couser writes from Berkeley, California: “My six weeks at Black Mountain College were happy at the time and satisfactory in retrospect…. I admire the spirit and aim of the College. I find the whole community attractive.
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN- Summer Bulletin #13- page 4
I am grateful for my own gains, for actual information, for the inspiration of associating with idealists working to make their insights actual….. I hope I am not being too presumptuous in pointing out what the French call the defects of good qualities. Just because B.M.C. is so generous it tends perhaps to prodigality. I’m thinking of course to that side than to stinginess; but I sometimes wondered whether you were not to far over. Does B.M.C. keep constantly in mind that teachers are the most precious part of the equipment? That instruments of precision deteriorate if not treated with utmost care? Frankly, I was often troubled to see how tired, even exhausted, some members of the uncomplaining faculty were. B.M.C. has an exceptionally fine group and knows it; but in a friendly spin. I ask whether the wear and tear is not unusually high. Whether every member has enough time to himself to renew his stock and add to it…..”
Wilhelm Lavinger writes from New York City: After my return home taking stock of my experiences and of the results of my stay in Black Mountain College I want to express my gratitude….. to all the members of the faculty and of the student body who, by their friendly and helpful attitude toward the members of the American Seminar have contributed to make my stay a success and a pleasant remembrance… On my way back I stopped a day in Charlottesville and was delighted by the scenic beauty….. from the terrace Monticello, by the piously preserved artistic character of Thomas Jefferson’s mansion and by the dignified architecture of the University of Virginia. This visit reminded me of the awe-inspiring impression I had years ago when visiting Washington’s Mount Vernon. Such monuments of a past period give you more than a lot of books on the historic subject.”
Mrs. Catherine Ruminov writes from the Hospital of Joint Diseases, Ward C. Madison Avenue at 124th Street, in New York City: “Leonid has been shipped.. overseas… I sprained my spine and lie in tractions in the Hospital…… How it happened I don’t know- I did not even know that one could sprain his spine. The first pains were terrific and the stretching too… I will have to remain in tractions for another week and then slowly get up and take it easy…”
COMMUNITY WORK REPORTS:
A. For week ending August 28th:
The Hog Lot Cross Fences were started. The painting of the Stone Cottage was continued. The six tons of soy bean hay, cut on Bennett’s field, was hauled to the barn; and four new tons were cut on the home field and spread on drying racks. Bennetts Field were plowed and resown with Crimson Clover. The harness was repaired in the Shop, and the College guests cut the lawn.
Molly Gregory
B. For week ending September 4:
The week began by the destruction by fire of the Service Building. It will be of interest to all former students to know that we got all of out four-inch hose connected to the Lodge Hydrant, the Siamese at the end, and both carts of two-inch hose run from there on; and were about ready to charge the line before the first of the outside fire trucks arrived. At that point the second floor was a mass of flames and was dropping into the first floor; so it was decided to replace our two-inch with new four-inch in order to have a larger volume of water. This was quickly done, but we were not even able to save even the one story part at the rear before it was irretrievably gutted.
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN- Summer Bulletin #13- page 5
After the trucks left, the fire broke out again- at about 12:30 o’clock. This time we connected our two-inch hose, which was ready, and found we had very satisfactory pressure and volume to subdue the fire easily in thirty minutes. Several people stayed up all the rest of the night to see that the fire did not break out again. All hands worked through most of the week cutting our fine stand of silage corn, hauling it and filling both silos to the top- 8- tons of winter stock feed.
The Interior painting of the Stone Cottage was completed. The cleaning and varnishing of the floors will be done next week.
Mac Wood
NEW SECRETARIES:
Arlyn McKenna, from Arlington, New Jersey, is not doing secretarial work in the Business office. She will take over Olga Schwartz’s work in the Registrar’s Office when Olga begins her Fall Quarter Courses in the College.
Due to arrive on Wednesday morning:
Doris Bollen and Henrietta Barth, both from New York City.
GUESTS:
Mr. and Mrs. Jean Charlot and two small children.
Miss Kay Francy
Janie King, a daughter of Jim King who has at one time a member of the teaching staff of Black Mountain College. Janie lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and attends the Windsor School in Boston.
STUDENT FINANCIAL CAMPAIGN
The Campaign total to date is $1040.75
AGENDA FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON MEETING
a. Reports and accommodations:
The Library Committee (Eric Bentley)
The Admissions Committee (Erwin Straus)
The Woods recommendations for the use of North and South Lodge for the Fall Term.
b. The Community work and the division of labor.
c. Procedure for summarizing Summer Quarter work of Student and Campers.
d. Continuation of ways to Get and Keep Students.
e. Plans for Community Fire Organization. (James Cerrard Stranch and Robert Orr)
