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Black Mountain College was an experimental school located in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The college was established in 1933 by John A. Rice and others, many of whom were former students and faculty from Rollins College in Florida. The purpose of the college was to educate the whole person, with an emphasis on the role of the arts and creative thinking. Black Mountain College itself was owned by the faculty, with students playing a significant role in the decision making process. Although grades were kept for transfer purposes, they were not used to evaluate a student's progress. Both faculty and students participated in the work program, which included the daily chores necessary for the upkeep of the school at the Blue Ridge campus. Later, the college purchased land nearby and the work program was expanded to include the construction of college buildings and the maintenance of an inn and farm on the Lake Eden property. The college officially moved to the Lake Eden campus in 1941.
Despite the fact that Black Mountain College could rarely offer faculty more
than room and board, a number of important teachers and artists were drawn to
the school as part of the regular faculty or to participate in the school's
Summer Institutes. Josef and Anni Albers, John Cage, Robert Creeley, Merce
Cunningham, Max Dehn, Joseph Fiore, Buckminister Fuller, Edward Lowinsky, Robert
Motherwell, Charles Olson, M.C. Richards, and Xanti Schawinsky were only a few
of those who taught at Black Mountain College. In addition, the success of
several of the college's students (such as Ruth Asawa, Edward Dorn, Kenneth
Noland, and Robert Rauschenberg) helped to further the college's reputation in
the area of the arts and the avant garde. The school was also one of the first
in the South to be integrated, with both African American students and teachers.
The character and focus of Black Mountain College shifted over time, according to the make-up of the faculty and students. Personal and ideological conflicts were common and sometimes lead to major changes in the college community. Lack of funds added to the stress of the situation, as did the school's physical isolation and its sometimes strained relations with the local population. Eventually, the student enrollment and available funds dwindled until the college was forced to close in 1956.
The
North Carolina State Archives is the primary repository of materials relating to
Black Mountain College. After the college closed, its records were in storage
until 1963 when they were given to the State Archives by Charles Olson on behalf
of the trustees of the college. Since then, the registrar of the Archives has
served as registrar of the college, providing transcripts and other information
for former students. Although the student records are closed to the general
public, the college records contain many other materials that are available for
research. These materials include minutes from board meetings, general files,
faculty files, treasurer's files and a large collection of photographs.
In addition, two collections of correspondence, interviews, and manuscripts give the background for the creation of two books about the Black Mountain experience -- one by Martin Duberman and one by Mervin Lane. The Black Mountain College Research Project, which was conducted by the North Carolina Museum of Art, includes hundreds of interviews, documents, and photographs. Mary Emma Harris, the primary researcher for the Black Mountain College Research Project, later published The Arts at Black Mountain College, which was republished in March, 2002. The archive also has personal papers from many of Black Mountain College's former students and faculty located in Private Collections.
The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources and its Office of Archives and Records are continuing their commitment to the collection and preservation of Black Mountain College materials. Recently the North Carolina State Archives, with the help of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, created new finding aids for its collections and made them available on the web. The Archives is also interested acquiring other collections of Black Mountain College materials. If you would like to donate materials or volunteer help in other ways, please contact Jesse R. Lankford, Jr.
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