Joseph "J.W." Martin

Joseph Martin was founding faculty in English for the fall 1933 semester until 1938.

Mary Emma wrote this short bio for the BMC Project, "Joseph Martin (1909–1994), a former Rhodes Scholar, was hired to teach literature Black Mountain College’s (BMC) first year. After leaving BMC, he obtained his Ph.D. in literature at Columbia University. He worked as a United States Civil Servant at various agencies, including the Office of War Information, the Foreign Economic Administration, the Department of State and the CIA. As an independent scholar, he did research at the Folger Library.He is author of Religious Radicals in Tudor England (1989) and The English Revolution and the Rise of Quakerism (1650-1660) (1975), as well as many essays."

Black Mountain College Project

Mary Emma Harris interviewed Joseph in 1976 and the transcript is available from Appalachian State University under The Mary Emma Harris and Black Mountain College Project, Inc. Oral History collection.

Topics: Correspondence with Fred Mangold – studies at Oxford – BMC classes in literature – Robert Wunsch theater – Xanti Schawinsky experimental theater – John AndrewRice role in community – interview with Martin Duberman – Rice-Josef Albers relationship – Ted Dreier