Cynthia Carr Boyden was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 30, 1921 to Lawyer John Preston Carr and Dorothy Tryon Carr. She attended the Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island from 1935 to 1939. After receiving her diploma, she attended Black Mountain College from 1939 to June 1943. She graduated with a focus in English Literature with Dr C. H. Gray, Dean of Bard College as her examiner.

When she left Black Mountain, she joined the WAVES where she served in the hospital corps for two-and-ahalf years. After the war, she married Roland Boyden (May 10, 1911-October 1981), a former Black Mountain College teacher. Boyden was a founder of Marlboro College in Vermont, and Cynthia Boyden’s life centered around the college and rearing her children.

Alternative Name: Cynthia Boyden

Relationships

Sister: Fellow BMC student, Dorothy Carr

Sister: Fellow, BMC student, Sheila Carr

Husband: BMC faculty, Roland Boyden

Black Mountain College Project

Mary Emma Harris interviewed Cynthia in 1997 and the transcript is available from Appalachian State University under The Mary Emma Harris and Black Mountain College Project, Inc. Oral History collection.

Topics: Alamoosook Camp, Maine – French family and Cambridge School – growing up in Winchester, Massachusettsand family background – Lincoln School – Albert Einstein visit to BMC – Roy’s [tavern] and BMC students – application to college – dislike of Josef Albers – general curriculum – Kenneth Kurtz (faculty) – Eric Bentley clique – literature curriculum at BMC – Lake Eden Inn – Jack and Rubye Lipsey (cooks) – Roland Boyden (faculty) – John Evarts (music) – Marlboro College and BMC comparison – BMC graduation – New England network of BMC faculty and students – work program – Studies Building construction – BMC “rules” – Saturday night parties and dances – Richard Carpenter (faculty) – refugee teachers – Fritz Hansgirg (faculty) – Herbert Miller (faculty) – Erwin Straus (faculty) – WAVES – Theodore Dreier (faculty)

Courses Taken

Fall term 1939-40: Readings in Literature (Kurtz), Introductory German (Straus),Music (Evarts), Spanish Tutorial (Fernando Leon aka Paco), Psychological Problems (Straus), Chorus (Jalowetz)

Spring term 1939-40:Readings in Literature (Kurtz), Introductory German (Straus), Music I (Evarts), Spanish Tutorial (Fernando Leon aka Paco), Psychological Problems (Straus), Chorus (Jalowetz)

Fall term 1940-41: 19th Century English Essay (Kurtz), Advanced Spanish (Mangold, Leon), Music II (Evarts), General Biology (Carpenter), Chorus (Jalowetz), Madrigals (Jalowetz)

Spring term 1940-41: 19th Century English Petry (Kurtz), General Biology (Carpenter), Advanced Spanish (Leon, Mangold), Music II (Evarts), Play Production II (Wunsch)—dropped, Chorus (Jalowetz), Acapella Singing (Jalowetz)

Fall 1941-42: English Literature Tutorial: Chaucer to 1600 (Kurtz), Philosophical Classics (Straus), Modern European History (Boyden), American Life and Letter(Kurtz, Babcock),Women’s Acapella Chorus (Jalowetz), Chorus (Jalowetz)

Spring term 1941-42: American Life and Letter (Kurtz), Modern European History (Boyden), English Literature Tutorial: 1600-1750 (Kurtz), Acapella Chorus (Jalowetz), Chorus (Jalowetz)

Fall 1942-43: Tutorials in English (Kurtz), Chorus (Jalowetz), Community Work Program (Wood)

Winter term 1942-43: Shakespeare and Elizabethan English (Kurtz), Tutorials in English Literature (Kurtz), Chorus (Jalowetz)

Spring term 1942-43: Tutorials in English Literature (Kurtz), Shakespeare’s History Plays (Kurtz), Chorus (Jalowetz