Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 07: DIRECTORS
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
Series: PHOTOGRAPHY
Arthur W. Dodd, teacher & principal (1932-1949), interim director (1942)
Arthur W. Dodd, Jr. (1908-1989)

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TAGS: Arthur Dodd, Arthur W. Dodd Jr., directors, principals, education, progressive education, music, photography, film, Georgia Ayers, Chapel, Glyn Morris, William Webb, Evarts High School, Columbia University, Ganado Mission, Presbyterian Church, Berea (KY) College, Burton Rogers, Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School, Mountain Life & Work

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ARTHUR W DODD Staff Interim Director 

Business Manager, Teacher 1932 – 1934
Photographer, Filmmaker, Organist, Pianist
School Principal 1934 – 1949
Acting Director 1942

Arthur W. Dodd, Jr., was born on January 9, 1908. During World War II years, he enrolled in the V-12 Program for Navy Officers at Berea (Kentucky) College, a program that was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps. He left that program before completing it and attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for a short time.

ARTHUR W. DODD: At Pine Mountain

Mr. Dodd spent 17 years at Pine Mountain Settlement School, serving in a variety of roles: two years as business manager; a total of five years as teacher of history, printing, English, music, and science (1942-1945 and 1947-1949); and school principal from 1934 to 1949. His work as a principal included interviewing prospective students. The Boarding School years under Dodd’s direction were some of the most creative and active years of Pine Mountain.

Arthur Dodd was a consummate musician. He played the organ and piano and was frequently called upon to play for events, give concerts, and instruct students in music.

In 1942, he was asked to serve as acting director for the School, as reported in the October issue of Notes From the Pine Mountain Settlement School,

Early last spring Rev. Glyn A. Morris, Director of Pine Mountain, volunteered as Chaplain in the army, and left for service on May 15th, on leave of absence for one year…. Mr. Arthur Dodd, Principal of the School, and for ten years a worker here, was asked by the Board of Trustees to assume leadership until August 1st, when Mr. William D. Webb came to Pine Mountain as Acting Director.

The departure of Glyn Morris was quick and presented a significant dilemma for the Board of Trustees, as administrative staffing at many schools during the war years was very thin. The departure of Morris was also a personal blow for Dodd as they worked well as a team. The Board of Trustees received a complaint against Glyn Morris that brought his continuing tenure at the school into question. It was Arthur Dodd who championed his colleague and friend and wrote a letter to the Board of Trustee Secretary Evelyn Wells requesting that Morris be re-hired following the war service. Dodd’s letter was endorsed by the majority of the staff at the School at the time but did not succeed in keeping Morris at Pine Mountain. Dodd stayed on. When Morris returned to the area, not at Pine Mountain but to Evarts, under the Harlan County School System and the direction of Superintendent James A. Cawood, Dodd followed him to Evarts. The two worked together for a brief time before Dodd accepted the position of Principal of the Navajo Mission School in Ganado, AZ.

Well-known for his skills and interest in photography, Arthur Dodd also collected photographs taken by others. In addition to his own photographs, he was responsible for movies filmed at Pine Mountain School. From time to time he roamed the campus taking experimental photographs of buildings, staff, and students and the surrounding environment. The School holds many photographs taken by Dodd. One photograph album, the ARTHUR W. DODD PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, contains both his images and those taken by other staff at the school.

Because his work was frequently mixed with earlier and later photographs from various photographers, it is sometimes difficult to determine with certainty what is his work and what belongs to others. The high quality of the photograph is one very telling sign of his creative work. Yet, often the others trained by Dodd emulated his work. These insightful and artistic records of daily school routine, with an emphasis on the Pine Mountain Settlement School activities, campus views, and surroundings, are valuable resources for understanding the culture of the School and the local community during the 1930s and 1940s.

In the late 1930s, Mr. Dodd met Georgia Ayers, a former Pine Mountain School student who had stayed on to work at the settlement. A summer trip to Mexico in 1936, with Fern Hall and their chaperon, Grazia Combs, brought Dodd and Georgia closer together and like many other staff, “Dodd” and Georgia were married in 1940 in the Pine Mountain School’s Chapel. Georgia Ayers Dodd worked as a community worker and housemother at Big Log (1938-1940) and West Wind (1942-1944). Their two daughters, Elizabeth Oaks Dodd and Margaret Cressler Dodd, were born at Pine Mountain.

The Dodd family were at Pine Mountain until 1951, then relocated to Ganado, Arizona. There, Dodd served as Principal of the Ganado Mission School.

 

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GALLERY

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ARTHUR W. DODD: After Pine Mountain

By the time World War II had ended, Dodd was teaching at Evarts (Kentucky) High School and giving private piano lessons. During 1950-1951, he attended Columbia University in New York City, writing in a letter to Burton Rogers, “In public school work I have found that one is greatly handicapped in any contemplated move without a Master’s Degree.” Meanwhile, his wife stayed at Pine Mountain Settlement School with their children and worked as a dietitian.

Dodd earned his master’s degree in 1951 and then briefly rejoined his family at Pine Mountain. Soon after, he and his family left the School for Arizona where Dodd had accepted a position as school principal at Ganado Mission, a Navajo school, located near Gallup, New Mexico. The Mission was owned and operated by the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church. At the Mission, Mrs. Dodd continued her work as a dietitian. The Dodds worked in Ganado from 1951-1973. While at Ganado, Dodd continued his photography and his work can be found in the notable publication, Arizona Highways, which was well-known for its quality and emphasis on landscape photography.

While at Ganado Mission School, Arthur Dodd explored the surrounding countryside and the Navajo and Zuni tribes in the area. He gained enough confidence from the tribes to allow him to participate in some tribal rituals and events. He describes a Navajo wedding that occurred in April of 1957 in an account found in his papers in the Archives at Pine Mountain Settlement School.

The experience in Ganado also gave Dodd an opportunity to explore the commonalities of the two schools and in his Addenda to School Experiences.

Following retirement from Ganado Mission, Arthur and Georgia returned to the Appalachians, settling near Elizabethton, Tennessee, close to relatives and Dodd’s birthplace. They were also close to Pine Mountain Settlement where both he and Georgia continued their dedication to the School.

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Arthur Dodd died on November 17, 1989, in Johnson City, Tennessee, near Elizabethton.

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See Also:

ARTHUR W. DODD Administrative Correspondence

ARTHUR W. DODD Addenda to School Experiences

ARTHUR W. DODD Navajo Wedding April 3, 1954

ARTHUR W. DODD Photograph Album 1943-1946

DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH: PMSS and MEXICO

GEORGIA AYERS DODD Student Staff Biography

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Title	Arthur Dodd
Alt. Title	Arthur W. Dodd, Jr.
Identifier	ARTHUR W. DODD
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Alt. Creator	Ann Angel Eberhardt, Helen Hayes Wykle ;
Subject Keyword	Arthur Dodd, Arthur W. Dodd, Jr., Pine Mountain Settlement School ; directors ; principals ; education ; progressive education ; music ; photography ; film ; Georgia Ayers ; Chapel ; Glyn Morris ; Big Log ; West Wind ; William Webb ; Evarts High School ; Columbia University ; Ganado Mission ; Presbyterian Church ; Berea (KY) College ; Burton Rogers ; Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Berea, KY ; Evarts, KY ; New York, NY ; Gallup, NM ; Johnson City, TN ; Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School ; Mountain Life & Work ;
Subject LCSH	Dodd, Jr., Arthur W., — 1908 – 1989. Educators — Biography. Photography. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern. Rural schools — Kentucky — History.
Date	2008-10-31
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Contributor	n/a
Type	Text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents, photographs, and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet
Source	Series 07: Director’s Files ; Series 09: Staff/Personnel ;
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 07: Director’s Files and Series 09: Staff/Personnel ; Is related to Arthur Dodd Photograph Album.
Coverage Temporal	1908 – 1989
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Berea, KY ; Evarts, KY ; New York, NY ; Gallup, NM ; Johnson City, TN ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers created by or addressed to Arthur W. Dodd, Jr. ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Arthur W. Dodd, Jr.
Acquisition	n/d ; 1930s and 1940s ;
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed by	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last updated	2008-10-31 aae ; 2009-09-21 hhw ; 2013-10-31 aae ; 2016-12-09 hhw ; Sources “Arthur W. Dodd.” Series 7: Director’s Files and Series 9: Staff/Personnel. Arthur W. Dodd Photograph Album; Notes – 1942 ; Staff Directory 1913-present. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource. “United States Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V37B-2MK : 20 May 2014), Arthur W Dodd, 17 Nov 1989; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing). Internet resource.
Bibliography	Arthur Dodd’s work appears in the following publications: AV Guide, The Learning Media Magazine. (1940): 248. Print. Morris, Glyn, and Arthur Dodd. “Mountain Students Come to Grips with Local Environment.” Progressive Education. 19 (1942): 71. Print. The Pine Mountain School produced “The Odyssey” (800 feet) and “Mountain Life Moves On” (700 feet). Arthur W. Dodd, Principal, wrote that the latter film was planned and produced by the class. Miss Edith Cold was the films’ sponsor. Arthur Dodd’s photographs accompany the following articles: Creason, Joe. “The Vanishing Mountaineer.” Mountain Life & Work. 30 (Summer 1954): 22. Print. Motter, Margaret. “Time Marches on in the Hinterlands.” Mountain Life & Work. 24 (Fall 1948): 14. Print. “Mountain Craftsmen.” Mountain Life & Work. 31 (Spring 1955): 16. Print. Mountain Life & Work. 29 (Summer 1953): 4, 32, 36. Print. Three photos accompany poetry. “Skill of Hands.” Mountain Life & Work. 31 (Summer 1955): 19. Print. Stuart, Jesse. “Heart of America.” Mountain Life & Work. 23 (Winter 1947): 7. Print. Williamson, M. J. “Forest Research Center Studies Mountain Timber Resources,” Mountain Life & Work. 31 (Spring 1955): 24. Print. “Zoo Without Bars.” Mountain Life & Work. 30 (Summer 1954). Print. Four pages of animal photos. Arthur Dodd’s photographs appear in the following publications: Photo: Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 23, no. 4, Winter, 1947. p..7. Photo, “Courtesy of Arthur Dodd” accompanied poem by Jesse Stuart “Heart Of America”. Photo: Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 24, no. 3, Fall, 1948. p. 14. Two photos, “Courtesy of Arthur Dodd”, accompanied article by Margaret Motter, titled “Time Marches on in the Hinterlands”. Photo: Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 29, no. 3, Summer, 1953. pp. 4, 32, 36. Three photos accompanied poetry. Photo: Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 30, no. 3, Summer, 1954. Photo accompanied “The Vanishing Mountaineer” by Joe Creason. p. 22. Four pages of animal photos accompanied “Zoo Without Bars” . Photo: Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 31, no. 2, Spring, 1955. Photo accompanied paragraph titled “Mountain Craftsmen” p. 16. Photo accompanied article by M.J. Williamson, “Forest Research Center Studies Mountain Timber Resources”, p. 24. Council of the Southern Mountains: Mountain Life & Work, v. 31, no. 2, Summer, 1955. p.19. Photo accompanied paragraph titled “Skill of Hands”.

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