New audio of Robert Creeley discussing Black Mountain College

Audio recordings of phone logs between Robert Creeley and Bobbie Louise Hawkins were recently unearthed and made public at PennSound, as we mentioned, and on Jacket2 today you'll find more treasure. Once again available individually or as a complete mp3, audio of Creeley answering questions about Black Mountain College, apparently from the 1960s, has been made available from the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, with permission from the Creeley family. A great find for scholars and writers interested in the history of the College.

We encourage you to listen in on the audio at either of the links above. For now, here are the questions:

What brought you to Black Mountain?
In what capacity were you there?
What were your first impressions?
Did they subsequently change?
Who among the faculty or students impressed you?
Is it accurate to refer to a Black Mountain school of poetry?
What were BMC's particular strong and weak points?
Anything about the school's tone or procedures you wish were otherwise?
What satisfactions and tensions resulted from living at such close quarters?
What accounts for perennial faculty splits at BMC?
Did good relations exist between the college and the community?
Why did the college finally close?
How would you evaluate BMC's influence on your artistic growth?

Image of Black Mountain College courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives.