Photos of Black Mountain College students in the 1940s via The North Carolina Digital Collection.

Every January, even though I've been out of school for almost a decade, I still get that second semester feeling—a fresh start, a new beginning. I can't imagine a more inspirational school to return to in a new year than Black Mountain College, a short-lived (1933-1957) North Carolina school that diverged radically from traditional colleges of its time. The professors (Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller and Willem de Kooning to name a few) and students of Black Mountain College made the small town outside of Asheville a real cultural hub, and from the photo archives, it looks like a hub of early preppy bohemian tomboy style as well.