Leslie Paul

Crop of Leslie Paul participating in the work program. Courtesy of Western Regional Archives.

Performance of "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov, Spring 1941. Courtesy of Western Regional Archives.

FOCUS

Performance Art

ROLE

Student

ATTENDANCE

1940 - 1941

Leslie Paul was a student from 1940 to 1941. While a student, she participated in drama productions such as La Moliere, Le Medecin, and The Highbrow Ladies. She also served on the board of fellows. After BMC, she attended Harvard to study drama.

Asheville Art Museum Collection

Writings about Leslie can be seen in digitized college bulletins on Asheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers:

2017.40.262 November 1941 bulletin, "Robert Wunsch and four students, Leslie Paul, Jane Robinson, Thomas Brooks, and Fred Stone, made a four day trip to Atlanta and Greensboro, Georgia, late in October. While the students visited Dr Arthur Raper, southern sociologist, co-author of Sharecroppers All, and author of The Tragedy of the Negro Lynching, Mr Wunsch attended the fall meeting of the Secondary School Study of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of Negroes, of which he is a member."

2017.40.118 August 9, 1943 bulletin, "Leslie Paul writes from Cambridge, Massachusetts: “Another term at Radcliffe has begun…. I am taking four very interesting courses impressively entitled ‘Intellectual History of Europe in the Seventeenth Century’! It is by far the best I have ever had at Radcliffe and should be of great value….. There is little dramatic activity at the college this summer. I have done nothing since the Spanish play last Spring except direct a oneact play in three rehearsals for the Dramatic Club’s opening tea. I am at present, secretary of the Club, which means nothing except I have a vote in the choice of plays….. I am living in a ‘cooperative house with fifteen other girls where we do all the cooking and managing. It is a good deal od work when your turn comes around, but on the whole there is little inconvenience. I prefer the atmosphere of a place like this to that of the dormitories….”"

2017.40.156 May 22, 1944 bulletin, "Leslie Paul played the role of Margaret Flaherty in the recent production, by the Radcliffe Idlers and the Harvard Dramatic Club, of J.M. Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World”. Leslie is President of the Radcliffe Idlers."

2017.40.188 February 5, 1945 bulletin, "Leslie Paul played the role of Kate Julian in the January production of Henry James’ “Owen Wingrave”, by the Harvard Dramatic Club and Cole wrote, after seeing one of the productions: “Leslie did a fine job, as usual...She is again president of the club and for the third time had the loading girl’s part with the Harvard Club- an annual joint production. The work is all extra-curricular....Leslie will get her degree in March, and hopes to go into professional acting with directing her objective.”"

Performance of "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov, Spring 1941
Photograph of author

Author

Amanda Hartman

Amanda Hartman is the creator of BMC Yearbook, serving as the lead director, engineer, and researcher. She holds a MLIS in archive/ collections management, MA in art/ museum education, and BA in design. After working in museums and archives for a decade, she made the transition to tech and is now a software developer specializing in applications for museums, archives, and higher education.

Her interest in Black Mountain College began while working as a digital archivist with the Asheville Art Museum's BMC archive collection. She transcribed and digitized over 1500 documents created by the college. While working closely with these archives, she began independent research on the interracial program and Negro Week activities BMC, writing biographies of lesser known students and staff members. That research transformed into this BMC Yearbook project.

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