Introduction to Section 2 by Robert Sunley

Founded in the depths of the Great Depression, in 1933, Black Mountain College quickly gained national attention for an innovative, experimental liberal arts education. It stood in sharp contrast to the conventional system prevalent in American colleges and universities of the time. Among its prominent features was the concept of total education, blurring the distinction between formal curriculum and other activities and incorporating the total life of the student into the educational concept. It aimed for emotional and intellectual maturing of the individual student, rather than for the usual academic attainment of credits.

As a liberal arts college, BMC was not conceived as a new "Bauhaus," though incorporating some of its features. Nor was it an art school, aiming at producing artists and designers, though again it incorporated some aspects of the focus on the arts. Because the students and faculty lived and worked in the same large building and were perforce in closer contact with each other than in the usual college, some observers tended to see BMC as a "community" primarily. Yet it was throughout this early period clearly a liberal arts college, not an intentional community or commune.

The educational philosophy was embodied in a number of publications, the most famous of which was an article written by Louis Adamic, "Education on a Mountain," published in Harper’s in 1936. It brought national attention at once, and a reprinting of the article in the Readers' Digest resulted in even wider attention. Students applied from all over the U.S. and from other countries, some making their way to visit in person. Teachers likewise were attracted, and many sought to join the faculty, undeterred by the nominal salaries. Refugees from Europe and elsewhere found a haven at BMC, which could overlook their lack of American academic qualifications.

Former students who contributed recollections of their education at BMC reported for the most part an unusual experience, one contributing significantly to their later lives, giving them a breadth and depth they felt they would otherwise have lacked. Quite a few, as might be expected, found their life vocation. In classes, students found themselves mingling with new and established students as well as a faculty member or two and/or their spouses. There was no artificial division of students into Freshman, Sophomore, etc. Students interchanged with faculty on easy terms – though never unclear about their roles.

Selections from former student's recollections are grouped under the following topics:

        Formal Aspects of the Curriculum 
        Methods of Teaching
        Personalities of the Faculty
        Outside the Classroom.