Light blue and black letterpress on matte paper. Blue seal, wraps to back, heavyweight cover, matter inner pages with black letterpress *CHANGE IN SCHEDULE OF SUPPLEMENTARY FEES insert glued in on p. 25. First image is front of catalog and is a light blue background with a white circular logo. Text around logo reads "BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BLACK MOUNTAIN N.C."
Black Mountain College
1938-1939
CALENDAR 2
ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION 3
LOCATION 4
LIFE 4
WORK AND RECREATION 5
PLAN OF STUDY 6
JUNIOR DIVISION 7
SENIOR DIVISION AND GRADUATION 8
APPRENTICE TEACHERS 9
COURSES 10
ART 10
MUSIC 11
DRAMATICS 12
WRITING 13
ENGLISH 13
FOREIGN LANGUAGES 14
HISTORY 15
ECONOMICS 16
PSYCHOLOGY 16
SCIENCES 17
MATHEMATICS 18
PHILOSOPHY 19
LIBRARY 19
LABORATORIES 20
OTHER EQUIPMENT 20
HEALTH 21
ADMISSION TO THE STUDENT BODY 21
FEES 23
PAYMENT OF FEES 24
INFORMATION FOR NEW STUDENTS 25
OFFICERS 26
FACULTY 27
STUDENTS 31
CALENDAR; 1938-1939 Fall Semester begins September 12; Fall Semester ends December 20; Winter Vacation begins December 21; Winter Vacation ends January 15; Spring Semester begins January 16; Spring Vacation begins March 19; Spring Vacation ends April 2; Spring Semester ends June 3; 1939-1940 Fall Semester begins September 11; Fall Semester ends December 16; Winter Vacation begins December 17; Winter Vacation ends January 21; Spring Semester begins January 22; Spring Vacation begins March 24; Spring Vacation ends March 31; Spring Semester ends June 1; The College has no summer session.
ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION
Black Mountain College was founded in the fall of 1933 by a group of teachers and students interested in the ideas of a coeducational college, unhampered by outside control, where free use might be made of tested and proved methods of education, where new methods might be tried out, and where there should be candid recognition of the importance of participation in responsibility by students as well as Faculty.
When the College was incorporated its charter was so drawn as to place control of all its affairs ultimately with the Faculty. Matters of educational policy and discipline are dealt with directly by them. Appointments and financial affairs are handled by the Board of Fellows, members of which are elected for three-year terms by the Faculty from their own membership. A Rector, elected by the Faculty from among the Fellows for a one-year term, presides over the Board, which elects a Secretary and a Treasurer. It is felt that no division should exist between educational and administrative functions insofar as the guidance and responsibility for them are concerned, for the College is an organic social unit.
The students govern their own affairs by electing four students officers, the chief one of which is automatically nominated for election by the Faculty of the Board of Fellows for the term of his office. The student officers attend the monthly business meetings of the Faculty and meet from time to time with the Board to discuss problems concerning both students and faculty members, so that no action concerning students is taken without their opinion being considered. At intervals general meetings of the whole community are held in which everyone is free to express his views.
Outside opinion and contrasting points of view on College affairs are provided by an Advisory Council composed of friends of the College competent to offer expert advice on special aspects of its work.
LOCATION
Black Mountain College is located in the mountains of North Carolina at an altitude of 2700 feet; near the town of Black Mountain which is about eighteen miles east of Asheville. It is on one of the main lines of the Southern Railway and is easily accessible by motor car and bus. The property; which the College leases; and which comprises over one thousand acres; is on the slope of the main Blue Ridge; facing the Black Mountain and Craggy ranges on the other side of the Swannanoa Valley. Most of the land is wooded; but there is a farm of about thirty acres and a considerable number of buildings well adapted to the College needs.; In April; 1937; the College purchased for a permanent location some seven hundred acres of land on the North Fork of the Swannanoa River; three miles across the valley from the present site and about the same distance from the town of Black Mountain. The property; which has on it fourteen buildings; a farm; lake; and tennis courts; was formerly used as a summer resort under the name of Lake Eden. Since the buildings are not at present really adequate to house the College a comprehensive building program is being worked out; and meanwhile more immediate improvements such as landscaping are actually in progress.
LIFE
The physical setting; with its relative isolation; is well suited to community living. The members of the teaching staff; their families; and the students live in the same buildings; have their meals together; and are constantly in close contact with one another. As a result the relationship is not so much that of teacher to student as of one member of the community to another. This ease of communication meets one of the time tested needs of education; but it does not mean that the disparities of interest between younger and older people are not recognized. The scope of mutual interests is only enlarged.; Each member of the community is afforded privacy by having an individual study; although in general two students share a bedroom. Faculty rooms are scattered among student rooms.; The community keeps in touch with affairs outside of the College world through a fairly constant stream of visitors; many of whom speak informally on subjects in which they have a special competence. The five-week winter vacation enables students and faculty to visit metropolitan centers during the season for concerts, plays, art exhibits, and other cultural activities.
One of the implications of the accepted equality between men and women is that they should be educated together, that they should learn to associate with each other in most of the important activities of life not as opposites but on a basis of common humanity. Consequently, coeducation should be more than attendance of the same classes and participation in social trialities at an entirely artificial level. By living the life of a normal community in which they share intellectual work, manual work, recreation, and responsibility both to themselves and to the group, young men and women come to regard each other primarily as human beings, and thus establish a healthy and mature attitude toward one another.
It is held that one of the functions of education is to develop intelligently responsible students, and that this can be done only by giving them responsibility. This the College attempts to do, in all directions and to the fullest extent compatible with their ability to assume it and their position to answer for it. Naturally, each individual differs in his capacity both for perceiving where his responsibility lies and for assuming it when he does perceive clearly; for distinguishing what affects him alone and what affects other people; for recognizing those areas in which he is competent to have an opinion and those in which he is not. This placing of responsibility upon the members of the group individually and collectively carries with it the implication of a minimum of rules: for the abiding by an externally imposed rule may or may not be an act of intelligence or responsibility. What regulations the students have they have assumed voluntarily, and these are subject to re-examination at any time. When a student has reached the intellectual and emotional maturity that enables him to think before he acts, to see his actions in terms of their effect upon the community as well as upon himself, to consider the future as well as the present, and to recognize the limitations of his own opinions, one of the chief tasks of the College is done.
WORK AND RECREATION
At Black Mountain College there is not the same sharp cleavage that often exists between work and play, between curricular and extra-curricular activities. All work except that which requires the continuous attention of one person is divided among volunteers from the student body and the teaching staff. For example, members of the College wait upon themselves and each other at meals, and in the afternoons often work in the library, the bookbindery, or in the print shop. Typical outdoor jobs include farming, wood chopping, road work, and more recently, landscaping projects on the new College property at Lake Eden. It would of course be misleading to suppose that all students are equally alert in their responses: the emphasis is upon seeing whether they are actually becoming responsible, not upon whether they act as if they were responsible.
Nearly everyone gets out-of-doors between lunch and four o'clock when classes are resumed. Several tennis courts, an athletic field, and a well-equipped gymnasium, containing hand-ball and basket-ball courts, provide opportunities for organized sports. There are, besides these, a large out-of-door swimming pool and a small lake suitable for swimming and other water sports; while the mountainside contains many miles of trails for walking or horseback riding.
The College also operates a small farm. Its purpose is not to provide professional agricultural training, but rather to offer training in a very practical sort of experience to a few students interested in undertaking the responsibility of running it, and at the same time to offer healthy exercise to a great many others who may care to supply casual assistance.
Due to the belief that the College should be, insofar as possible, a self-contained social unit, as an appropriate place is given to entertainment and social activities. Musical programs, provided by College people and by outsiders, both formally and informally, are very frequent. Numerous art exhibitions from galleries and foundations come to the College; and the artists within the College exhibit their work from time to time. Several plays are presented during the year. Two or three times a week there is a half hour of dancing after dinner, and almost every Saturday night a semi-formal dance.
PLAN OF STUDY
The student is encouraged on entering to alter the procedure to which he has usually become accustomed and to put the same faith in doing that he has been taught to have in absorbing. One of the principal aims of the curriculum is to develop in him the ability to do self-directed work, for it is felt that such work, in any field, is invaluable.
In harmony with this point of view, Music, Dramatics, and the Fine Arts are regarded as an integral part of the life of the College and of importance equal to that of the courses that usually occupy the center of the curriculum. In fact, in the early part of the student’s career, they are considered of particular importance; because, in the first place, they are, when properly employed, least subject to direction from without and yet have within them a severe discipline of their own; and also because, as one means for coming, to a realization of order in the world and to an insight of one’s self they help to complete any such realization as is reached through a purely intellectual process. Since they are, by nature, subject only to qualitative evaluations which the student has only too frequently come to accept. Finally, the sensory and motor training inherent in these studies is not provided by work in the strictly academic subjects.
Another implication of self-directed work is that it should be self-chosen. There are, therefore, no required courses, and the student is free to choose whatever courses he pleases, provided only he has the prerequisite knowledge.
This extreme freedom of choice would often result in confusion were he thrust into an incomprehensible world and told to find his way by trial and error; but there are always nearby older and more experienced people ready to help and advise.
As two points in the student’s career he must face comprehensive tests of his failure or success. The curriculum of the College is divided into two parts, the Junior Division and the Senior Division. Before moving from the former to the latter the student must pass one of these tests, and before graduating, the other.
JUNIOR DIVISION
The Junior Division, in which entering students are placed, is intended as a period of exploration in the varied fields of knowledge offered by the College curriculum. There are no required courses; but the adviser whom the student has chosen from the teaching staff helps him to decide what subjects to take, with a view to gaining some acquaintances with the Sciences, the Social Studies, Literature, and the Arts. There is no prescribed length of time for a student's stay in the Junior Division; whenever the student feels he has explored sufficiently to make an intelligent choice of a particular subject for specialization, he may apply for entrance to the Senior Division.
Admission to the Senior Division depends upon the student's accomplishment, up to the time he applies for entrance, as demonstratable by; faculty testimony, specimens of work (such as note books, papers, artistic productions, etc.), records, his statement of his achievements, and a comprehensive examination. The comprehensive examination includes a choice of questions on all subjects in the College curriculum and is both written and oral. The written part consists of two papers, for each of which there is allowed a maximum time of nine hours and free use of the library, laboratories, notes, music records, and similar aids. Finally, a plan of study for the Senior Division, drawn up by the student in conference with his adviser and with faculty members whose fields it touches, must be approved by the Faculty.
SENIOR DIVISION AND GRADUATION
In the Senior Division, the student's work is of a more specialized character and is guided mainly by the plan he has himself drawn up, though he still has time free for courses not included in his plan. As in the Junior Division, his stay here depends upon his accomplishment and not upon any residence requirement. In general, however, the length of a student's college career approximates the usual four years.
Graduation is based on the student's accomplishment at the time he wishes to graduate, particularly upon the completion, to the satisfaction of the Faculty, of the work outlined in his plan of study for the Senior Division, as shown by a rigorous comprehensive examination given by examiners from outside the College.
The requirements for this final comprehensive examination vary somewhat according to the field of study, but in general they call for seven three-hour papers with oral examinations following. In most cases, two of these papers deal with the student's subject knowledge, and three papers deal with the student's subject in an extensive way, one paper with related fields of knowledge, and three papers with subdivisions of the student's subject which particularly interests him. The seventh paper is intended to concern itself with some special problem connected with the subject and may often be presented in thesis form.
The College grants no degrees or certificates. The quantity and quality of the accomplishment that is requires for graduation is equivalent to that required for the degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science at Eastern universities. Records showing the quality and quantity of work done in specific courses are kept not only for any credit system within the College but for purposes of transfer to other institutions, for either undergraduate or graduate work.
Examinations for graduation in the last two years have been given by the following outside examiners: Robert Arnold Aubin, Tutor in English Literature, Radcliffe College; Douglas Bement, Assistant Professor of English, George Washington University; Phillip Putnam Chase, Lecturer in American History and Chairman of the Board of History Tutors, Harvard University; John Frederick Dashiell, Kenan Professor of Psychology and Head of Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina; Calvin Bryce Hoover, Professor of Economics, Duke University; Cecil Johnson, Assistant Professor of History, University of North Carolina; Corydon Perry Pruill, Jr., Professor of Economics, University of North Carolina; Alfred Thurber West, Director of Dramatics, Duke University.
APPRENTICE TEACHERS
Believing that the development of teachers should be one of its functions, the College has begun and proposes to continue the practice of admitting each year as apprentice teachers two or three students, either its own graduates or highly recommended graduates of other colleges. Such apprentice teachers are in no sense assistant instructors taking over part of the work of members of the Faculty, nor are they what is ordinarily designed as graduate students of education. Rather, they are students who, having already a sound foundation in some field, wish to learn the art of teaching - insofar as an art can be learned - by working with and studying the methods of successful teachers both in their own and in other fields, by attending the educational meetings of the Faculty, and by some practice teaching after they have become competent to do it. The College has had apprentice teachers in Art, Dramatics, and Music, and expects gradually to offer opportunities in other fields.
Applicants must apply for admission in the same manner as regular students, although additional information will be required. The same financial regulations will apply to apprentice teachers as to regular students.
COURSES
All work at the College is regarded as general education rather than as training for any specific profession or vacation. This does not mean, however, that a solid background or a high degree of proficiency cannot be obtained in any field.
The following statements of ideas and practices in different fields and courses are not meant to be definitive or inclusive. The curriculum is flexible and generally able to meet reasonable new needs as they arise. The plan of work for each student is an individual problem. In each course the emphasis is essentially on process and the relationship between subjects is stressed.
Most of the courses listed are being given this year. Some are offered in alternative years; others are offered only on demand. Classes usually meet in small discussion groups without formal lecturing; but each teacher is free to conduct his courses in whatever way he sees fit.
ART
The main purposes of all art studies are: to reach through practical experience, an understanding of the essential crafts and problems of art work; to learn different seeings and interpretations of our world and time; and most important, to get an insight into one's individual constitution. Because these ends are better attained through class work, art studies are conducted as classes. But for special art students there is, additionally, tutorial correction and criticism.
The courses in Drawing seek to achieve a disciplined education of the eye and hand by means of technical exercises, by elementary studies in the three-dimensional representation, and, for more advanced students by free nature drawing.
The courses in Color consist of research in the different qualities of color when related to form, space distance quantity, and intensity; in color systems; and in psychic effects. More advanced students work with the practical uses of proportion, quantity, and organization of color in painting.
Werklehre – practical designing with actual materials - is for students with experience in drawing. It is designed to develop an understanding of material and space and includes practice in combination of material and construction.
Weaving combines practical and theoretical work in hand-weaving and deals with the elements of form in textiles, with different weaving techniques, and tries to develop a feeling for the material. Studies in the free composition of texture, color, and the surface qualities of materials, on the one hand, and studies which emphasizes the functional qualities, on the other prepare for either single or industrial production of fabrics.
A ALBERS, J ALBERS
Introductory Drawing
Advanced Drawing
Introductory Color
Advanced Color
Werklehre
Weaving Theory
Weaving Practice
General Art Class
Private Art Seminar
(See Bulletin 2, “Concerning Art Instruction” by Josef Albers)
(See Bulletin 5, “Work with Material” by Anni Albers)
MUSIC
In the belief that the genuine appreciation of music includes listening to it in its own terms, that a keener recognition of the technique brings a closer understanding of the content and of the composer's intention, three successive courses have been worked out in music appreciation and history. In the further belief that a complete understanding of music grows also from some active participation in its performance, there are classes in ensemble singing and playing.
General Singing is intended for the entire community; and while some important choral literature has been introduced in this course, its concern is as much the social validity of music within the College, as the study of music as an art. Although it does not aim to serve as an introduction to choral singing, many students have proceeded from the basis of this experience to a more intensive and specialized approach.
Thus a large number of potential musical performers are always at hand to rehearse works ranging from madrigals and string quartets to cantatas and concertos. While many performances have been given at concerts within the College, the laboratory nature of the rehearsals is paramount; and not only are the subsidiary disciplines of transposing and arranging available to those interested, but also the opportunity to coach or conduct. In this atmosphere of general musical vitality, the solo singer or pianist escapes the musical isolation that might otherwise be the price of his technical training, while the beginnings of composition are immediately conditioned by considerations of practical reasonableness.
The resulting experience and confidence lends authority and breadth to the work done in the appreciation courses; so that what persists as the ultimate goal of these activities is an intelligently critical acquaintance with musical literature, alike from the perspectives of historical knowledge and direct experience.
J EVARTS, A B SLY, E W SLY, T W SURETTE
Music appreciation I
Music appreciation II
Music appreciation III
General Singing
Chorus and Orchestra
Chamber Music
Piano Lessons
Violin Lessons
Composition
Teaching Music in Schools
Nineteenth Century Opera
Bach Chorale Preludes Seminar
DRAMATICS
The work in the Dramatics is intended to serve to purposes: to be a meeting point of all the arts and to be the medium through which the student, interpreting and performing under the discretion of the playwright's mind, may become more fully aware of himself as a person. The student, therefore, not the play, is the thing. With the individual student occupying first place the entertainment of spectators, development of the ability to act, and artistic perfection take secondary places. As a rule, the student is cast in the part which is best for him at that time but occasionally a cast is chosen from the more experienced students so that the rest of the college and whatever outsiders may be invited may become more aware of drama as an artistic form.
Plays are worked on and produced throughout the year. Mr Wunsch
W R Wunsch
Dramatics 1
Dramatics 2
Dramatics 3
WRITING
In the belief that writing should be taught wherever things are written, no special course is offered in composition or in the mechanics of English. Such instruction falls upon each teacher in his own field, and students are expected to write a paper on economics as carefully as one on Milton. Creative writing, however, as well as journalism, has a place in the curriculum.
J A Rice, W R Wunsch
Introductory Writing
Writing Seminar
Journalism
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
The primary purpose of the studies in literature is to help the student toward experiencing and understanding the major literary works in the English and the American traditions. This includes both appreciation and the development of critical insight. Oral reading in informal groups, reading and analysis in the class, and tutorial work with the more advanced students are the methods used to accomplish this purpose.
Factual knowledge and the techniques of scholarship are treated as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves, but an adequate command of these is regarded as necessary for a real understanding of literary work. Appreciation and the development of taste are given considerable emphasis. However it is recognized that literature, because it is essentially a personal expression of life, is of unusual value in contributing a knowledge of man’s nature and his experience to the student and thus leading him to a more mature and broad comprehension of himself and his fellows. To achieve this end, the peculiar qualities of the major types of literature, such as tragedy, poetry, comedy, are examined with a view to understanding their origin in human experience and to evaluating specific works in terms of their significance as an expression of life. Courses in collateral fields, such as creative writing and acting, constantly suggest the immediate relationship between literature and life.
English Literature when treated historically is regarded not as a self-contained tradition but as an inseparable part of the articulate thought and feeling of a millennium or so of English history in the broadest sense. Similarly, individual works are examined as offsprings of the age and society which produced them, contemporary parallels in other fields are often cited, and possible modern analogues are suggested. Here, as in other discussions of relationships, the emphasis rests not on establishing by the scholar’s apparatus the facts of “sources” and “borrowings”, but on perceiving the specific quality of the likeness or the difference.
H L Bailey, K Kurtz, F R Mangold, T W Surette, W R Wunsch
Introductory Survey of English Literature
Chaucer and Medieval Literature
Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Drama
Seventeenth Century Literature
Eighteenth Century Literature
The Romantic Movement
Victorian England
Nineteenth Century American Literature
Contemporary American Literature
Readings in Literature
Form in Literature
Problems of the Novel
Poetry Reading
General Introduction to Linguistics
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Knowledge of a foreign language is not required for entrance to the College, for admission to the Senior Division, not for graduation. It is recognized that the learning of a language is a slow and difficult process and that frequently the value of the process and of the result to a given individual is not commensurate with the time and effort involved. A student is encouraged to undertake or to continue the study of a language only when it seems likely that such a study will be genuinely significant to him.
Work is offered in French, German, Greek, Latin, and Spanish, and their respective literatures and cultures. The learning of a language is not regarded as an end it itself, but as an approach to broader human problems, during the course of which many fields may be opened, many faculties exercised, and many relationships established. Language is not conceived as an isolated grammatical mechanism but as an organism with countless psychological, historical, and esthetic implications. No prescribed curriculum has been set up nor is any one method adhered to. The acquisition of an ability to read comprehendingly is one of the most immediate goals. There is also ample opportunity for learning to speak the modern languages. Through learning a foreign language a student may become more aware of his own and of the general phenomenon of language communication.
In all the languages an Introductory Course and an Advanced Course are offered in alternate years. By the end of the second year a student should be able to read in the modern languages, without the intermediary process of translation, all but the most difficult things.
No series of courses in literature have been devised. A literary genre, a period, one single author or several authors, will be studied as the need arises. Philological work may be taken by students specializing in a language.
F R Mangold, A Moellenhoff, J A Rice
Introductory French
Advanced French
Introductory Survey of French Literature
Seminar on Stendhal, Flaubert, and Proust
Introductory German
Advanced German
Nineteenth Century German Literature
Seminar on Goethe
Seminar on Nietzsche
Introductory Greek
Advanced Greek
Introductory Spanish
Advanced Spanish
Seminar on Cervantes
HISTORY
The courses in History attempt to give the student a familiarity with the broader aspects of man's past and present activities, and of the forces which bear on them, and to awaken in the student a free spirit which will not allow him unthinkingly to conform to what has been and what is. The accumulation of factual material and the development of a sense of chronological continuity are regarded as necessary. With these as a foundation the student may discipline his reason, enrich his imagination and intuitive faculties, learn to select essentials, weigh evidence, order material and present it in logical and graceful fashion. Such knowledge and such techniques offer a basis from which he may attain a mature insight into human action, and may reach a sane perspective in weighing human motives and events. Of the following courses the first two are treated in their political and social aspects, the others in their political, social, and cultural aspects.
W C Barnes
History of the United States
Civilization and the New World
History of Modern Europe
Modern Russia
Renaissance and Reformation
ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY
The courses in economics and sociology seek to give historical perspective and contemporary orientation to social and economic institutions and practices. An attempt is made to awaken students to the significance of the tremendous social changes of our times and to prepare them intellectually and emotionally for life in a rapidly changing society. In a world of warring propaganda and dogmatic approaches to the social studies a realistic evaluation of social and economic phenomena is considered of prime importance.
G Barnes
General Economics
Social Problems
General Sociology
Labor Problems
PSYCHOLOGY
Instruction to psychology is founded upon the assumption that psychology has its own subject matter and methodology. Psychology is not treated as a branch of physiology. The relationship between mental life, brain, and endocrine glands is not neglected; but because of the peculiar nature of this relationship the functions of the brain and of the endocrine glands must be treated as secondary aspects. Present concepts of the functions of the brain- knowledge of which is largely hypothetical- are not adequate to explain mental life. It is assumed that the province of psychology is the study of man in the specifically human world, i.e. in relation to history, to values, to the arts- in a word, to his culture. It is not sufficient to explain the so-called higher mental life as a combination of simpler impressions and processes.
Throughout the courses the relations between man and his world are considered as primary. It is shown that mental life is not made up of separate thoughts, perceptions, emotions, etc. but that all these are only phases of this fundamental relation between the ego and its world- a relationship which remains the same throughout all these various phenomena. It should be noted that the concept of psychic time- as distinct from physical time- is the central point around which this study gravitates.
This approach permits the instructor to clarify the difficult theoretical problems of psychology by very concrete examples from human experience, and on the other hand to understand the concrete phenomena of metal life by means of these new insights. An attempt is made to remain as free as possible from the impersonal abstractions of experimental psychology.
&F Moellehoff, E W Straus
Fundamentals of Psychology
Psychopathy
Abnormal Psychology
Psychoanalysis
*On leave of absence 1938-1939
SCIENCES
The purpose of work in the Sciences is three-fold: to give the student experience in the fundamental methods of thought and experiment in Science; to give to a content of factual material; and to give an orientation in the economic, social, and philosophical significance of the Sciences. In the introductory courses the emphasis is put, not on definitions and terminology, but on developing comprehensive views by means of illustrative work, and on provoking and answering questions.
More advanced work is available for students with adequate preparation and is arranged to meet their special needs.
T Dreier, C H Lindsley, A Moellenhoff
Introductory General Physics
Physics of Musical Sounds
Elementary Optics
Electricity
Mechanics
Introductory General Chemistry
Qualitative Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
Introductory Biology
Biology Seminar
History of Science
MATHEMATICS
The study of Mathematics is regarded as training in abstract thought; but abstract thought is related to the world. The emphasis is of course on method, although practical problems are used.
It is considered more important, for instance, for a student to formulate for himself a relation between several variables than merely to manipulate an aggregate of symbols given by someone else. It is better still when he discovers an abstraction which links together diverse phenomena which had seemed unrelated.
The relation of Mathematics to science becomes obvious from such practice. And if thereby the student also attains some recognition of the importance of general ideas in the world, he has opened for himself a gateway to philosophy as well.
T Dreier
Calculus I
Trigonometry
Analytic Geometry
Calculus II
Differential Equations
PHILOSOPHY
The purpose of the work in philosophy is to give the students some practice in the philosopher's way of going about things. This work includes not only the use of language in handling ideas but is intended also to make the student aware of the limitations of this medium. The assumption is that the student comes to college with a fairly large vocabulary, most of which has no meaning for him. The task then is not one of definition but of understanding. Logic and the other tools of the philosopher are used as a means to this end.
J A Rice
Plato I
Plato II
LIBRARY
The library at present contains about ten thousand volumes, two thirds of which have been catalogued according to the Library of Congress system. Fifteen hundred more, in faculty members' private collections, are available through a separate catalog. A periodical room includes over forty magazines and newspapers which are received regularly.
Though not large, the library performs the functions demanded by the college in fairly adequate fashion. Its original nucleus was the professional libraries of the faculty members, it has been very fortunate in some of its gifts from outside, and its direct purchases have practically all been made to meet the specific needs of individual courses. A regular annual appropriation for book buying assures steady coordinated growth. In addition, the University of North Carolina and Duke University have extended the courtesy of their Interlibrary Loan Service, through which books required for more specialized work are available for limited periods.
The library also provides an opportunity for a number of students, working voluntarily under the direction of the Librarian, to gain experience in several kinds of practical work.
LABORATORIES
Scientific apparatus and laboratory equipment are sufficient for elementary work in Physics and Biology, and for all ordinary undergraduate work in Chemistry. As the demand grows for more advanced courses in the sciences, the laboratories will be expanded accordingly.
OTHER EQUIPMENT
The Music department has a studio equipped with piano, radio and phonograph as well as containing a library of musical scores and more than a hundred albums of phonograph records. There are also a pair of concert pianos and several orchestral instruments, while a small detached building containing additional pianos is available for practical purposes.
Theatrical equipment includes a medium-sized stage with modern lighting apparatus and other stage properties.
For weaving there are a number of hand looms (three of them with eight harnesses) both for cloth weaving and for rug weaving. The print shop contains two hand presses, with several type fonts and complete accessories.
A small bookbindery is operated in conjunction with the library.
A woodworking shop has been well equipped with hand and power tools, in which many things needed by the College, such as laboratory tables, hand looms, bookshelves, and stage properties are constructed.
HEALTH
A Health Certificate and an Oculist's Certificate are required of all applicants for admission, and all entering students are urged to be immunized against smallpox, diphtheria, and typhoid fever. The College reserves the right to insist upon inoculations at any time should occasion for them arise; and, further, to insist upon any health measures that its medical consultants may prescribe.
Room has been provided in which people suffering from minor ailments or injuries may be isolated and properly cared for. The College has no resident nurse, but requires anyone needing the attention of a nurse shall have it, at the College's expense if the person is absolutely unable to afford it himself.
There are several physicians immediately at hand in Black Mountain, and the neighboring city of Asheville is well supplied not only with modern hospital facilities but also with specialists in various fields of medicine.
ADMISSION TO THE STUDENT BODY
Admission to the student body is determined by a Committee composed of faculty members and students. It is the function of this Committee to form an opinion of what sort of person an applicant is, of how adequate his previous training has been, and of what likelihood there seems to be that he will be benefitted by attending the College and will in turn contribute to the life of the College.
The College has adopted no fixed regulations concerning the age or scholastic background of applicants for admission, preferring rather to consider each individual case upon its merits. It assumes however, that in most cases an applicant will be of normal college age, and will have satisfactorily completed a four year course in an accredited secondary school or will be able to show, by acceptable certificates or records of examinations, that he has had equivalent scholastic preparation. Candidates whose preparation is in any way dubious will be further investigated in whatever manner the Admission Committee sees fit. No student will be admitted unless, in the judgement of the Committee, he has sufficient intelligence and has had sufficient previous training to be able to carry college work.
Every applicant for admission must submit to the Committee, on forms provided by the College:
1. An Application for Admission to the College, which must be filled out in full and which must be accompanied by a non refundable application fee of ten dollars.
2. A Health Certificate and an Oculist's Certificate, to be sent directly to the College by the examiners within two weeks of the time the application is submitted unless an extension of time is granted.
The College will write directly to the references, given on the Application for Admission, for letters of recommendation and for records of previous work.
A personal interview with a representative of the College is required when this is at all possible.
Applicants whose financial resources are insufficient to meet the necessary charges of the College must fill out an Application for Student Aid on the form provided by the College.
The Admissions Committee does not require but would be pleased to receive from an applicant an original piece of writing such as an essay, a poem, a letter, or a story. The Committee prefers this to be in the applicant’s own handwriting and will appreciate a typewritten copy accompanying it if the handwriting is not easily legible. A specimen or a description of work done in a field of special interest may also be submitted.
It has been found desirable, under certain circumstances, for a prospective student to visit the College before applying for admission. The time preferable for doing this is during the semester preceding the one in which he wishes to matriculate. The Committee will not decide upon an applicant while he is visiting the College. It usually takes from ten days to three weeks for a decision to be given, depending largely upon how promptly letters of reference are received. However, the College reserves the right to postpone decisions, for comparative purposes, as the number of students that can be admitted at any given time is limited.
No students will be accepted for a short trial period.
Students who wish to transfer from institutions of collegiate standing must apply for admission in the same way as students who are going to college for the first time. Like all entering students, regardless of the amount of work they have done elsewhere, they will go automatically into the lower of the two sections into which the College is divided, passing from the Junior to the Senior Division as soon as they can demonstrate their qualifications for Senior Division work.
Applicants, on admission, are expected to comply with certain financial arrangements (See Payment of Fees).
Students may enter at any time in the College year. However, the date at which the student desires to enter must be clearly indicated on his application blank and he is admitted for entrance only at that time. If, after being notified of his admission, he finds it necessary to postpone his arrival for more than six weeks, his admission is automatically cancelled and his application must come before the Committee a second time. If such postponements defers the student's entrance till the following academic year, an entirely new application must be filled out and a second application fee paid.
Students who withdraw from the College without obtaining a leave of absence from the faculty must make regular application for re-admission if they wish to return.
All correspondence pertaining to application for admission should be directed to the Registrar.
FEES
Yearly fee for room, board, and tuition $300 to $1200
Believing that a cross-section of American life, economically as well as geographically, contributes to the educational value of the College, and realizing that ability to pay the full fee is in no sense a criterion of a student’s desirability, the College makes use of a sliding scale of tuition. Ideally, and in so far as possible practically, admission to the student body is made to depend upon each application, 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. However, even though a certain gross income must be maintained from student fees in order to meet the operating expenses of the College, about fifty percent of the students pay less than the full fee.
Those who can are required to pay $1200. Others pay as much of the full fee as they can reasonably afford to.
In order to arrive at a fair fee, applicants for a reduction of fees are required to make a confidential statement of their financial resources yearly on a blank furnished by the College. Only in very exceptional cases are fees reduced below $300.
There is no provision for students’ working their way through the College. No distinction of any kind is made between students paying reduced fees and those paying the full fee. All work done by students in voluntary and without reference to their financial status.
PAYMENT OF FEES
The College cannot guarantee that a place will be reserved for any student after August 1 for the Fall Semester, or January 10 for the Spring Semester, unless $200 has been deposited with the College by those dates. This deposit is not refundable if the student withdraws after those dates, except at Faculty discretion; for a withdrawal from the reserved place at the last moment may create a vacancy which otherwise could have been filled. In the case of students admitted after these dates the deposit must be made within ten days of notification of acceptance by the College and before the student’s arrival. Fees are payable as follows:
August 1 Reduced fee$200.00 Full Fee $200.00
During the first week of the Fall Semester Three-fifths of the balance $600
During the first week of the Spring Semester The balance $400
For new students entering more than three weeks after either semester has begun special adjustments will be made.
The only other fees are:
Application fee $10.00
Matriculation fee $10.00
Contingency deposit $25.00
Examination for graduation $25.00
Fee for late payment of any bill $10.00
The application fee must accompany the application for admission to the College and is not refundable. The matriculation fee and contingency deposit are due when the student enters the College. Any unused portion of the contingency deposit is refundable when the student withdraws from the College. Bills are payable on the date of the bill and if not paid within ten days are subject to the fee for late payment.
INFORMATION FOR NEW STUDENTS
Students are responsible for the care of their own rooms, and for providing their own blankets, bed linens, and towels (which they should have at hand on arrival). Bedroom furniture is supplied and the bed linen is laundered by the College. Although additional cots, straight chairs, and other bedroom furniture may be similarly obtained for use in studies, most students either bring along their own study furniture, curtains, rugs, and the like, or buy them in Asheville.
The climate at Black Mountain is moderate and healthy, although the temperature may fall as low as zero once or twice during the winter. Clothing appropriate for walking in the mountains and for working outdoors should be provided as well as ordinary clothes suitable for this climate. Since old clothes or work clothes are worn during the day, an extensive wardrobe is neither necessary nor desirable.
No pets should be brought unless permission has been obtained. Students may keep automobiles but garage facilities are limited.
The following supplementary pamphlets may be had on request: Pictures of the College, Financial Statements, Foreword of the First Catalog, The College Seal, Concerning Art Instruction, Work with Material.
*insert* CHANGE IN SCHEDULE OF SUPLEMENTARY FEES
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 must accompany application for admission to the College and is not refundable. Applicants who are accepted by the College should make a contingency deposit of $25 within ten fays of notification of acceptance, since admission does not become effective until this deposit is received. It is not refundable, except at Faculty discretion, 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.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Francis F. Bradshaw Chapel Hill, North Carolina
John Dewey New York, New York
Ethel E. Dreier Brooklyn, New York
J. Malcolm Forbes Milton, Massachusetts
Lucy Gage Nashville, Tennessee
Sarah Goodwin Concord, Massachusetts
Joseph Katz Nashville, Tennessee
Walter Locke Dayton, Ohio
Thomas W. Surette Concord, Massachusetts
BOARD OF FELLOWS
Josef Albers, Theodore Dreier, Frederick Rogers Mangold, Anna Moellenhoff, John Andrew Rice, Robert Morris Sunley, William Robert Wunsch.
STUDENT OFFICERS
Duncan Dunbar Dwight, Robert Morris Sunley, Emery Stevens Whipple, Emil Joseph Willimetz
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
William Robert Wunsch Rector
Frederick Roger Mangold Secretary
Theodore Dreier Treasurer
Norman Betts Weston Assistant Treasurer
Anne Gilbert Mangold Registrar
David Welles Bailey
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. Works exhibited widely in Europe and North America. Guest lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 1936-1938.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
Helda Loram Bailey English
St Swithun’s School, Winchester, England; Swarthmore College, A.B.; Columbia University, M.A.
Positions at Black Mountain College 1933-1935; Miquon School, Miquon, Pennsylvania, 1935-1938.
Black Mountain College, 1938.
Gerald Barnes Economics and Sociology
Amherst College, A.B.; University of Cincinnati, M.A.; University of Michigan, Ph.D.
Positions at University of Cincinnati, 1916-1917, 1920-1921; Alleghany College, 1919-1920; University of Oregon, 1921-1923; University of Michigan, 1923-1925; Western Normal School, Michigan, 1925-1929; American University in Beirut, 1930-1931; Dickinson College, 1931-1933; Clark University, 1933-1934; Bard College, 1934-1935; Regional Director of National Youth Administration, 1935-1937; Simmons College, 1937-1938.
Black Mountain College 1938.
Walter Carl Barnes History
Lafayette College; Colorado College, A.B.; University of California; Oxford University, B.A.
Positions at the University of California, 1916, 1918-1920; University of British Columbia, 1917-1918; University of Oregon, 1920-1930; Smith College, 1931-1938; Rhodes Scholar for Colorado, 1913-1916; Contributor to the National Encyclopedia.
Black Mountain College 1938.
Theodore Dreier Physics and 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.
John Evarts Music
Yale University, A.B.; Yale Music School; private instruction, Munich, Hochschule fuer Musik, Berlin; composition with Hans Weisse, New York; Concord Summer School of Music.
Positions at Millbrook School for Boys, 1931-1932; Assistant Music Critic, “Brooklyn Daily Eagle”, 1932-1933.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
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.
Charles Halsey Lindsley Chemistry
Princeton University, B.S., M.A., Ph.D.
Positions with Princeton University, 1932-1934; Biochemical Research Foundations of Franklin Institute, 1934-1936; International Nickel Company, 1936-1938.
Black Mountain College, 1938.
Frederick Rogers Mangold Romance Languages
Princeton University, A.B.; University of Wisconsin, M.A., Ph.D.
Positions are Louisiana State University, 1929-1930; Colorado School of Mines, 1930-1931. Fellow in Spanish, University of Wisconsin, 1931-1934.
Black Mountain College since 1934.
Anna Moellenhoff Biology and German
Universities of Bonn, Kiel, Munich, Dr. Med.; University of Psychiatric Hospital, Munich; University Medical Hospital, Munich.
Positions in hospitals in Munich, Leipzig, Berlin; Postalozzi-Froebelhaus, 1928-1933.
Black Mountain College since 1935.
Fritz Moellenhodd Psychology
Universities of Heidelberg, Kiel, Freiburg, Dr. Med.; University of Cincinnati, M.A.
Positions with Freiburg and Leipzig University Hospitals, 1920-1925; Assistant Director of Kuranstalten Westend, Berlin, 1925-1934; University of Cincinnati, 1936-1937; Menninger Clinic, 1938-1939. Member of American Psychoanalytic Society.
Black Mountain College since 1935. On leave of absence 1938-1939.
John Andrew Rice Classics and Philosophy
Tulane University, A.B.; Oxford University, B.A.; University of Chicago.
Positions at Webb School, 1914-1916; University of Nebraska, 1919-1920; Head of Department of Classics, University of Nebraska, 1926-1928; New Jersey College for Women, 1928-1930; Rollins College, 1930-1933. Rhodes Scholar for Louisiana, 1911-1914. Guggenheim Fellow, 1929-1930.
Black Mountain College since 1933.
Allan Bernard Sly Music
University of Reading, England, Professional Diploma; piano with Evlyn Howard-Jones; composition with Gustav Holst and Benjamin Dale; Concord Summer School of Music.
Positions at University of Reading, 1927-1928; Denstone College, England, 1928-1930; Trinity College School, Port Hope, Canada, 1930-1933; Toronto Conservatory of Music, 1933-1934; The Choate School, Wallingford, Connecticut, 1934-1935; Composer of orchestral, choral, chamber music; soloist, recitalist, conductor.
Black Mountain College since 1935.
Erwin Walter Strauss Psychology
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.
Thomas Whitney Surette Music and Poetry
Special student, Harvard University.
Staff lecturer in Music to the Extension Gelegacy of Oxford University, Lecturer at Birmingham University and London University, 1901-1908; Director of Music, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1909-1912; Director of Music Department, Bryn Mawr College, 1921-1924; founder and Director of the Concord Summer School of Music, 1913-; Lecturer at Graduate School of Education, Harvard University and at Metropolitan Museum of Art; member of the Visiting Committee to the Division of Music of Harvard University; 1933-; Mus. Doc., University of Pennsylvania, 1934. Editor of Concord Series of music; author of Music and Life, The Development of Symphonic Music; co-author of Appreciation of Music, The Significance of the Fine Arts, The Effective College.
Black Mountain College since 1937.
STUDENTS 1938-1939
Andrews, Richard L. Bronxville, New York
Beatty, Barbara Washingon, D.C.
Beckley, Ralph W. Manchester N.H.
Belt, Avis Chevy Chase, Maryland
Billing, Leonard W Foochow, China
Bovingdon, Derek Wollaston, Massachusetts
Clark, Jane M. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Cragin, Suzanne C. Hollywood, California
Dann, Norene Buckingham, Quebec
Dwight, Duncan D. Summit, New Jersey
Goldberg, Paul New Rochelle, New York
Hendrickson, George W. New Rochelle, New York
Herschberger, Ruth M. Chicago, Illinois
Hill, Barbara L, Laguna Beach, California
Jamieson, Edward B. Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Jordan, Jean E, New Rochelle, New York
Josephs, Phyllis S. Arden, Delaware
Katz, Leslie Baltimore, Maryland
Larsen, Gloria L. Brooklyn, New York
Maciejczyk, Roman F. Brooklyn, New York
Mayhall, Jane F Louisville, Kentucky
Monteux, Marion, New York, New York
Morrell, Grace Darien, Connecticut
Murphy, Dan Denver, Colorado
Murphy, Dave J. Denver, Colorado
Nacke, Frank E. Denver, Colorado
Nacke, Marion, Denver, Colorado
Page, Don Denver, Colorado
Payne, Ruth M. Ightham, England
Pollet, Elizabeth S., Great Neck, L.I. New York
Randall, George M. Oakland, California
Raymond, Harold B. Melrose, Massachusetts
Reed, William F. New York, New York
Rice, William Springfield, Massachusetts
Ropp, Nevalie, Laguna Beach, California
Sieck, Kathryn W, Winnetka, Illinois
Spayth, L. Sue, Dunellen, New Jersey
Steinau, Morton Louisville, Kentucky
Stephens, Hope Arden, Delaware
Stix, John M. St.Louis, Missouri
Sunley, Robert Oak Park, Illinois
Way, David J., Billings, Montana
Weston, Neltje S, Wilton, Connecticut
Whipple, Emery S. Concord, Massachusetts
White, Gertrude R. New Rochelle, New York
Willimetz, Kenelm, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Yamins, Hyalie Fall River, Massachusetts
Yamins, Sybil E., Fall River, Massachusetts
