This paper discusses the influence of John Dewey and his educational philosophy and methods on the development of experimental liberal arts colleges during the 1930s. It reviews the student-centered, holistic, experiential curriculum advocated by Dewey and others, and the role of John Andrew Rice in founding Black Mountain College near Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1933. The paper examines Rice's career, the reasons for the founding of Black Mountain College, the educational methods used at the college, and the influence of Dewey on the development of the college. Dewey visited the college three times during the 1930s, having a direct influence on the curriculum and instructional practices. Dewey also had an indirect effect on Rice and the college through the educational debates he participated in and the institutional examples of his philosophy and methods. (Contains 20 references.) (MDM)