This photograph, from the Robert Frost Collection, was taken at an October, 1954 reading in the Carriage Barn on the Bennington campus. Students appear to have copies of "The Road Not Taken" which he is signing for them. Bennington College President Frederick Burkhardt stands to the left of Frost. The wing-backed chair is the same as chairs used for other Bennington guests, like Peter Drucker and they appear in other photos in the Carriage Barn. The wooden, decorative feature on the wall facing Frost also appears in the Carriage Barn. View Image in Bennington College Archives
June 1933 Evening Meeting Schedule Bennington College Archive
Bennington Banner June 16, 1933
Robert Frost, a member of the Bennington College Theatre and Arts Committee, is listed in this fundraising brochure. "The concern of this committee is to raise a fund of $1,000,000 to build and to provide maintenance for a Theatre and Arts Center for Bennington-a building to house talents already at work; facilities to increase the scope of the present program in the performing and visual arts. The need is urgent!"
Future at Bennington... Theatre and Arts Bennington College Archives
"Frost lived in Shingle in 1927, after they gave his son and wife the Stone House as a wedding present."
Robert Frost: the Years of Triumph, 1915-1938 by Lawrence Thompson
The Bugler - October 1, 1954 Bennington College Archives
My dear Mrs. McCullough: I shall be only too glad to have my name used. I wrote you several days ago. I wonder what can have become of my letter. You know how anxious I am for the success of the Bennington College. Best wishes from us both. Sincerely yours Robert Frost Amherst February 29 1928
Robert Frost note Bennington College Archives
In the large student application for enrollment, the Director of Admissions would choose the student body like choosing an orchestra, having in mind enough different interests and localities to make an inspiring and harmonious group; that the teaching body need not be PhDs or research professors, but chosen rather as inspiring and able teachers, young and dynamic and 39. with democracy of age, rather than the old stodgy teacher-student attitude. This faculty must have an idea of pedagogy. Written reports rather than numerical marks were to be used to record student progress, and I remember Robert Frost saying, "They prefer adjectives to numbers."
"Recollections" Bennington College Archives
September 15, 1954
Dear Dean Brockway,
Mr. Frost will be ready at the Homer Noble Farm by three in the afternoon of September 27. Is it alright to have him back at the farm next morning? He does best without drinks and with a solitary supper of eggs, tea and milk. After his talk, and fortified by a cold snack he can go on to an evening in a private home. The audience meeting he likes. Usually he talks about an hour and a quarter. Then after applause he goes on and it would be best for the chairman to break things up after another twenty minutes or so. He tires but is often helpless at ending things. Mr. Frosts looks forward with pleasure to his evening with you all.
Sincerely, Kathleen Morrison
Letter from Kathleen Morrison to Tom Brockway Bennington College Archives
"As Bennington opened its doors to 87 freshmen in 1932 the exuberant star of the Literature Division was Genevieve Taggard, poet, biographer, inspiring teacher and the only member of the Leigh faculty to be included in Daniel Aaron's Writers on the Left. She had been recommended to Leigh by Robert Frost, then living nearby, as a better poet than Frances Frost, a Vermonter unrelated to Robert who was also being considered."
Although not a faculty member, Robert Frost hung around the college during Burkhardt's tenure. After finding out Burkhardt was the college president, Frost said to him: "Oh, Bennington, I always say that 'I stamp my foot and up came fire and flames and fumes and Bennington College."
Frederick Burkhardt's Obituary Bennington Banner September 26, 2007
Bennington College announced it will acquire the Robert Frost Stone House Museum in Shaftsbury, VT, thanks to a generous gift from the Friends of Robert Frost. The home represents the period when Robert Frost claimed his place among America’s great poets. The Museum will complete its scheduled season for 2017, which includes a September lecture and public visiting hours through the end of October, and will reopen to the public in spring 2018.
September 25, 2017 Frost House Gifted to Bennington Bennington College Archive
"Robert Frost’s Association with Early Days of Bennington College" by Phil Holland. Article in The Walloomsack Review Volume 26, Spring 2020.
