Newsletter begins with infromation on the plans for new campus construction following architectural design by Walter Gropius. Faculty and student updates on back page. Glossy off-white paper with black ink.
Black Mountain College Newsletter
Volume 1 Number 4 March 1939
College prepares permanent home
About the architects
When Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus at Weimar in 1919 he gave a great impetus to the development and spread of Modern Architecture. An attempt was made to synthesize modern life in the buildings which Gropius and the other members of the Bauhaus designed after intensive research into the potentialities of machines and new materials. The new architecture was first accepted in Germany and other European countries, and it is now becoming well known in America, especially since many of the Bauhaus teachers have come here to live and work.
Gropius is now engaged in active practice as an architect in partnership with Marcel Breuer, a former student and master at the Bauhaus. Together they have designed a number of private homes and other buildings. Gropius has been connected with Harvard University since 1937, first as professor and later as chairman of the Department of Architecture. Breuer is known as the inventor of tubular steel furniture. He practiced in London after 1934 as an architect, and in 1938 was appointed research assistant in the Department of Architecture at Harvard.
Walter Gropius to design new College building
Dr Walter Gropius, internationally known architect, has been selected to draw the plans for the future Black Mountain College buildings to be located on the College property at Lake Eden, NC. The plans, which are to be completed by the middle of April, are an important part of the intensive efforts of the College to develop and build up the Lake Eden site. The College is planning to move to Lake Eden permanently in the autumn of 1940, since there is an increasing possibility that it will be unable to continue in its present location at Robert E. Lee Hall, Blue Ridge, later than that date.
At present the entire College is united in working on the plan for the development of Lake Ede. The main features of this plan are the construction of small buildings and the adaption of the present ones for temporary occupation, and the improvement of the land. Another and essential feature of the total plan is the raising of the necessary money, and at the present time the College is asking for gifts of small sums, from five to fifty dollars to be used for immediate constructions so that the future existence of the College will be assured. The College will start to raise funds for the main building when the Gropius plans are completed.
Specifications submitted to Dr Gropius call for the large central building to house the main activities of the College as well as to provide living quarters for the faculty and student body. The building will be designed so that it can be constructed in units, the first to consist of an assembly hall, library, and student and faculty studies. Sleeping quarters, laboratories, and other units will be added later. The preliminary plans suitable for publication will be ready April 15 and will include general floor plans and views of the entire building.
Since its beginning six years ago Black Mountain College has leased the buildings and grounds at Blue Ridge, with the intention of securing a permanent place as soon as possible. In June 1937, the College purchased the Lake Eden property, which had been operated as a summer hotel. The property, including sixteen buildings, an artificial lake, and 667 acres of land, was not suitable for immediate occupation. The buildings were not constructed for winter use, there was not sufficient living space for the community in close communication with each other. At that time the College was not in a position financially to prepare plans for erecting the necessary buildings.
The first summer the grounds were leased. During the next school year the students and teachers worked at Lake Eden, clearing fields and repairing buildings. In the summer of 1938 the College operated Lake Eden as an inn and as a summer home for the faculty, earning a net profit of $875 as well as providing jobs for eight students.
At the beginning of this school year it became evident that there was a need for a well organized plan to develop Lake Eden if it was to be used as a permanent site. The entire community formulated a detailed plan for working, in which everyone could take a satisfactory part. Besides the plans for future construction under the Gropius designs, the College is undertaking to build a small cottage.
Effective February 15, 1939, the following schedule of supplementary fees supersedes that stated on page 25 of the Black Mountain College catalog for 1938-1939:
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 has been reduced from $10 to $5 and the matriculation fee has been eliminated.
Interlude
The second interlude of the year was called for the week of February 21-28. Mrs Moellenhoff, as a member of the interlude committee, opened the week without classes by making the following statement to the community:
“The committee has been discussing the advisability of an interlude at this time very seriously. While it is obvious the several members of the faculty need a period of rest and concentration very much, it is also clear to us that very few of the students need a relaxation period.
“When the interlude was first introduced in this college, it was thought of as a period during which students and faculty should have an opportunity for doing such kind of work as they would like to do, either quite independently or in addition to class work, and which they had not been able to do on account of lack of time. The committee is very much in favor of this conception of the interlude; therefore it seems quite important to them to have it before people feel tired or worn out and would be inclined to take the interlude only as a time for relaxation.
“Some of you may know right now what to do during the week without classes. Ohers may feel at a loss, and for those I should like to give a few recommendations. It is usually a good method to start by considering quietly the things you could do, and after having decided which of these you would like to do, to make a definite plan and even a schedule for yourself. As to the things you could do, a few suggestions may be useful. There may be problems, artistic or scientific ones, related or unrelated to classes, which are important for you personally to work really hard on. As to work in close relation to classes, reviewing and catching up are certainly quite necessary for a number of you. This is also a means of getting a better insight into the wholeness of a subject in those courses where a great number of details which have to be presented are apt to obscure this view. During class periods it happens not infrequently that the teacher mentions books and problems which, although not assigned for outside study, might yet be very important for a better understanding of the matter.
“The interlude committee therefore recommends that the faculty be available for conferences with students in relation to interlude work.
“A former teacher once remarked: ‘The American college is the only place I know where people try to get as little as possible for their money.’”
The College has been invited to participate in four meetings arranged by groups of high schools to bring together college representatives to talk to their students. The meetings will be at the following schools: New Trier, Winnetka, Illinois, March 4; Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Maryland, March 8; Pingry, Elizabeth, New Jersey, March 18; Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, New York City, March 31.
Charles Lindsley, professor of chemistry, has been appointed by the Board of Fellows to organize Lake Eden Inn as a resort and residence for the faculty this summer.
Theodore Dreier and Robert Wunsch left February 20 on a business trip for the College. They will attend the national convention of the Progressive Education Association in Detroit, February 23-25, after which they will visit New York City, interviewing teachers and students in secondary schools. They will spend several days in Boston where they will discuss the new buildings plans with Walter Gropius.
“The Student is the Curriculum,” an article about the College by David Bailey, appeared in the January issue of Progressive Education.
JA Rice has been invited to take part in the fifth Institute of Human Relations to be held at Chapel Hill, NC, March 30 to April 7. He is scheduled to conduct a platform discussion with Dr Scott Buchanan, Dean of St John’s College, who is an advocate of the Hutchins system of education.
Mr and Mrs Albers have been asked to exhibit at the San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition next summer. Mrs Albers will send weavings made at the College, and Mr Albers will exhibit a glass painting.
Three new students have been admitted since January 12. Lorraine Creesy of Newton, Massachusetts, transferred from Massachusetts State College at the beginning of the term, John Ormai of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was admitted February 24, coming from the Yale School of Fine Arts. Donald Stein of Ravinnia, Illinois, tranferred from Stanford February 28.
Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” the major spring production of the drama department, was given on the College stage Saturday evening, February 18. The cast included Hope Stephens, Duncan Dwight, Bela Martin, Barbara Beatty, Edward Jamieson, Sue Spayth, and Kathryn Sieck. Scenery design and stage direction were under the supervision of George Hendrickson.
Morton Steinau, a fourth year student, is acting as assistant treasurer for the College. He replaces Norman Betts Weston who left the community last January in the Harvard School of Business.
