Mervin Lane Manuscripts

ArchivalResource

Mervin Lane Manuscripts

1987-1989

This collection of manuscripts was created during preparation of Lane's Black Mountain College: Sprouted Seeds, and includes typescript drafts and final galley proofs of the text of the book, miscellaneous working papers, correspondence with contributors to the anthology, correspondence with former students who were willing to comment privately on their experience at the college but who decline preparing comments for publication in the anthology, and press clippings. Correspondence with Lane includes a substantial amount of information regarding life at Black Mountain College with many of the contriubtors commenting on the influence that the college has had upon their lives, the emotionally challenging and demanding aspects of their student life, and the sexually unrestricted aspects of the communal atmosphere. Numerous comments are made about the teaching style and classes of art instructor Josef Albers, expecially in the files of Peggy Bailey, F.A. Foster, and John Urbain; dancer Merce Cunningham and his involvement with the college is discussed by June Christensen and Elizabeth Jennerjahn; sexual freedom and communal life are discussed by Doughton Cramer, Anne Mangold, Bill McGee, and Ike Nakata; the musical concerts are discussed by Judith Davidoff; and Charles Olson as a major influence upon students is related by Mary Fiore, Mildred Harding, and Helen Hellman. John Rice, founder of the college, is discussed by F.A. Foster, Ika Nakata, William C. Rice, Frank Rice, and Marian Teeter; the accidental drowning of student Frank Nacke is recalled by Ike Nakata, Morton Steinau, and Kacke's sister, Marian Teeter; the artistic life of the college is described by Elizabeth Jennerjahn, Howard Rondthaler, and Patsy Wood; John Reiss examines the austere lifestyle of the students and visits of personalities such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Agnes de Mille; Anne Mangold's refutation of former works on the college are told from the perspective of a faculty wife during the turbulent years of college founder John Rice; and former faculty member Theodore Dreier comments upon his life after Black Mountain College, and details the accidental deaths of both of his sons: artist Leo Krikorian's file includes an article on his ownership of the famous San Francisco bar, The Place, which helped to found the beatnik generation in the 1950s; Judd Woldin writes about the death of music instructor Heinrich Jalowetz; the material from May Sarton is reprinted from one of her published works, and her note comments upon the lasting influence of the college upon her writing; and Albert Einstein's possible affiliation with the college is discussed by John Reiss and Phyllis Thomas. Photographs of several contributors are included.

4 cubic ft.

eng, Latn

Related Entities

There are 36 Entities related to this resource.

Albers, Josef, 1888-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62s4jst (person)

Josef Albers was born on March 19, 1888 in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany, the only child of Lorenz Albers, a housepainter, and Magdelena (Schumacher) Albers. He attended the Präparanden-Schule in Langenhorst from 1902 to 1905 and then the teachers college in Büren, graduating in 1908. He became an instructor in several Westphalian primary schools. Albers studied at the Royal Art School in Berlin, the Arts and Crafts School (Folkwang School)in Essen, and at the Art Academy in Munich u...

Cunningham, Merce, 1919-2009

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6456chb (person)

Merce Cunningham is a choreographer. He started his career as a dancer with Martha Graham's company, and then left to start his own company. The company, which was created over 50 years ago, is still flourishing. Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington. He first started formal dance training at the Cornish Institute of Allied Arts in Seattle. From 1939 to 1945 he was a soloist in the Martha Graham Company. While performing with Martha Graham, Cunningham bega...

Jalowetz, Heinrich

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60w944n (person)

Austrian conductor. From the description of Letters to Arnold Schönberg, 1901-1945. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34491676 ...

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c649b1 (person)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving First Lady throughout her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office (1933-1945). She was an American politician, diplomat, and activist who later served as a United Nations spokeswoman. A shy, awkward child, starved for recognition and love, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Her constant work to improve their lot made her one of the most loved–...

Nacke, Frank

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pr8jf3 (person)

Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fb8zcv (corporateBody)

Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 by a group of nonconformist faculty and students from Rollins College in Florida. Headed by John Andrew Rice, they established their experimental college and community near Black Mountain, NC. Artists and writers from all over the country were attracted to Black Mountain and the college became a nurturing ground for some of the best talents of the twentieth century. Among its faculty and students were Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning...

Foster, F. A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tq6qf9 (person)

Wood, Patsy

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6086v8s (person)

Cramer, Doughton

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr2mr9 (person)

De Mille, Agnes

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f47qfd (person)

American dancer and choreographer. From the description of An oral history interview with Agnes de Mille / conducted by Peggy Sherry for the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Weill-Lenya Research Center, 1991 Aug. 9 : recording and transcript. (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison). WorldCat record id: 122537807 Agnes de Mille (b. 1909-d. 1993) was an American choreographer, dancer, and author. From the description of Papers, 1918-1972. (Unknown). WorldCat...

Lane, Mervin

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rv1b9t (person)

Poet, musician, actor, author, and professor of literature; b. 1928. From the description of Mervin Lane manuscripts, 1987-1989. (North Carolina Division of Archives & Hist). WorldCat record id: 70955912 ...

Nakata, Ike

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z32ms2 (person)

Davidoff, Judith M.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6000qxm (person)

Thomas, Phyliss.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g16pv8 (person)

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6p77 (person)

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was...

Christensen, June

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hh7706 (person)

Rice, Frank A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t735q9 (person)

Teeter, Marian Nacke

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69w14b3 (person)

Olson, Charles, 1910-1970

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r78jxt (person)

Charles Olson, the leading voice of the Black Mountain poets, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was a notable student at Wesleyan University, where his groundbreaking work on Herman Melville evolved into the highly praised monograph, Call Me Ishmael. Inspired by Franklin Roosevelt, Olson worked his way up through the Democratic Party, but quit after Roosevelt's death, and began a brilliant career as a writer and educator. His manifesto, Projective Verse, influenced a generation of poets ...

Woldin, Judd

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ng5403 (person)

Langston Hughes, author of original work; Judd Woldin, composer and lyricist; Dan Owens, librettist; Richard Engquist, lyricist; Eric Krebs, creator. From the description of Little Ham : a Harlem jazz musical : typsecript, September 26, 2002. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 60659874 ...

MacGee, Billy

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60k2znj (person)

Jennerjahn, Elizabeth

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xk93wc (person)

Fiore, Mary Emma, 1928-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ks7f2z (person)

Mangold, Anne G.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60583v1 (person)

Place (San Francisco, Calif.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vj0dnk (corporateBody)

Thomas, Phyllis, 1935-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66t1902 (person)

Dreier, Theodore, 1902-1997

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p5698b (person)

d. 1997. From the description of Artist file : miscellaneous uncataloged material. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82505518 ...

Krikorian, Leo, 1922-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pz5zwt (person)

Rondthaler, Howard

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr2mt6 (person)

Reiss, John J.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kp8q7v (person)

Bailey, Peggy, 1910-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6708pdp (person)

Sarton, May, 1912-1995

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68m805s (person)

By Source, Fair use, Link May Sarton (May 3, 1912-July 16, 1995), poet and novelist, was born Elanore Marie Sarton in Wondelgem, Belgium, the daughter of George Sarton, a noted historian of science, and Eleanor Mabel Elwes, an English portrait painter and designer. Sarton moved with her parents to England, and in 1916 the family immigrated to the United States. All three became naturalized Americans in 1924, by which time Sarton's name had been Americanized to Eleanor May. Sart...

Rice, John Andrew, 1888-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f76f6m (person)

In 1933 John A. Rice founded the Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, N.C. in 1933. He left Black Mountain College in 1939. From 1943 to 1957 he was self-employed as a writer. He wrote the autobiographical I Came out of the 18th Century, Local Color, and various short stories. From the description of John A. Rice collection of papers, 1712-2004. (Western North Carolina Library Network). WorldCat record id: 123895293 ...

Harding, Mildred Davis, 1916-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61k002w (person)

Urbain, John A., 1920-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z32n22 (person)

Rice, William C.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jw93r8 (person)