Emerson College


Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States,
Originally based in Boston's Pemberton Square, the college moved neighborhoods several times, and is now located in the Theater District along the south side of the Boston Common. It maintains campuses in Los Angeles and in the Netherlands.
It was founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a school of oratory. The school offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as professional training, primarily focused on the arts and communication, grounded in a liberal arts framework. Emerson is a founding member of the ProArts Consortium, a collaborative association of six neighboring Boston-based institutions dedicated to collegiate-level arts education.

History

Origins

founded the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art in 1880, a year after Boston University closed its School of Oratory. Classes were held at Pemberton Square in Boston, where ten students enrolled in the conservatory's first class.
The following year, the institution changed its name to the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, in honor of Charles Emerson's teacher at Boston University's School of Oratory, Professor Lewis B. Monroe.
In 1890, the name changed again to Emerson College of Oratory and was later shortened to Emerson College in 1939.

Early expansion and growth

The college expanded and rented space at 36 Bromfield Street, and moved to Odd Fellows Hall on Berkeley and Tremont Streets in the South End of Boston. With the new location, the college's first library was established in 1892. Henry Lawrence Southwick, a faculty member and alumnus, became a financial partner for the college with Emerson. This financial partnership led to the acquisition of the Boston School of Oratory from Moses T. Brown in 1894.
At the turn of the century, faculty members Henry and Jessie Eldridge Southwick and William H. Kenney purchased the college from Dr. Emerson. Soon after, the college rented a new location in Chickering Hall.
Dr. Emerson retired in 1903 and William J. Rolfe, a Shakespearean scholar and actor, was named the second President of Emerson College of Oratory. His service as president lasted until his retirement in 1908.
As the Student Government Association of the college held its first meeting in 1908, the third president of the college, Henry Lawrence Southwick, was inaugurated. He introduced the study of acting and stagecraft into the college curriculum. During his tenure, the college rented a new building at 30 Huntington Avenue in Copley Square. The college was also granted the right to award Bachelor of Literary Interpretation degrees. In addition, Emerson became the first school with a collegiate-level program in children's theater in 1919. The school offered its first course in Journalism in 1924.
The college purchased its first piece of real estate with a new women's dormitory building at 373 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, and started intramural sports in 1931 with the organization of volleyball games.

Administrative restructuring

In 1930, full charge and control of the college was transferred to the Board of Trustees by William H. Kenney, Henry Lawrence Southwick, and Jessie Eldridge Southwick.
When Harry Seymour Ross was appointed the fourth president of Emerson College in 1931, the first course in radio broadcasting was taught by the program director of WEEI, a Boston AM radio station. The purchase of buildings at 130 Beacon Street and 128 Beacon Street a year later began the presence of Emerson College in Boston's Back Bay. Emerson kept ownership of these buildings until summer 2003.
In the following years, a professional training program in speech pathology and the first undergraduate program in broadcast journalism were offered for the first time in the United States. Construction of a theater behind 128–130 Beacon began, and the institution was granted the right to award Master of Arts degrees.

Post-war era

In the post-war era, the G.I. Bill of Rights and the Broadcasting curriculum contributed to the rebalancing of the student body from a primarily-female population to an equally-balanced population of men and women. Boylston Green, the first president to have no prior association with the college, used his background as a dean of students to enhance extracurricular activities, including the establishment of a student activities fee. These efforts led to the first publication of Emerson's student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, in 1947, which is still in production today.
Emerson also saw major development in its broadcasting program. A one-year Certificate of Broadcasting was offered via evening classes. The FCC awarded the college a 10-watt license in 1949, and WERS, the first educational FM radio station in New England, was born. The station's power was increased to 300 watts three years later, and 18,000 watts by 1953.
At the start of the decade, in 1950, Emerson College became a member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, an accreditation association for schools and colleges in New England.
President Green left the college in 1949 after being selected as president of the University of the South, and Godfrey Dewey served as Acting President until 1951. At that time, Jonathon French was appointed as Acting President, and he became president in December of that year, despite never being formally inaugurated.

Financial crisis of 1952 and recovery

The college suffered from a severe financial crisis in 1952, and sought $50,000 in emergency funding. At the time, the Chairman of the Corporation stated that without these funds, the college had three alternatives: go broke, sell out, or merge with another institution. Led by the National Alumni Council, a grassroots campaign was launched to improve the financial situation of the college. The efforts led to the resignation of the Council of Trustees, which was then replaced mostly by alumni. The new board elected a former Emerson history professor, S. Justus McKinley, as the fifth President of Emerson College.
Pulling out of its financial crisis, the college started to develop its programs with new facilities. In 1953, Emerson opened The Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at 145 Beacon Street, furthering the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program. A television studio was dedicated at 130 Beacon in 1954, with its first closed-circuit TV program the following year as WERS-TV. The first annual spring musical, Lady in the Dark by Moss Hart, was presented. Later, the school was authorized to grant honorary degrees, Bachelors and Masters of Science in speech, and a Bachelors of Music in conjunction with the Longy School of Music.

Back Bay as Emerson's campus

As the 1960s started, 373 Commonwealth Avenue was sold to purchase a dormitory at 100 Beacon Street for 609 undergraduate and 29 graduate students. A year later, a building at 150 Beacon Street was obtained for dorms, a dining hall, and administrative offices. With major gifts from Elisabeth Abbot Smith and J.F. Buzzard, the college library moved from the fourth floor of 130 Beacon Street into its own building at 303 Berkeley Street. In 1964, two buildings were purchased: 96 Beacon Street, which became the student union building, and 132–134 Beacon Street, which became a dormitory. The campus remained primarily in Back Bay until the late 1990s.
In 1967, Richard Chapin, former Dean of the Harvard Business School was inaugurated as the seventh president of Emerson College.
Shortly afterwards, an academic planning committee approved a new course of study for general education requirements. The first level of this program replaced the college-wide requirements with a two-year interdisciplinary course of study and electives. In order to accommodate this new program, the building at 67–69 Brimmer Street was purchased. The Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies was born. A year later in 1972, the college gained authorization

Attempted relocation

Though Emerson College has moved to various locations within the city of Boston, the appointment of Allen E. Koenig almost took the college completely outside of Boston. As soon as he was inaugurated in 1979, Koenig initiated talks with Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to relocate Emerson and merge the two schools. However, an agreement was never reached and the plan was dropped entirely.
At the start of the 1980s, Koenig made a proposal to the board of trustees for a major renovation of the college's facilities. The plan allowed for new performance spaces, classrooms, and faculty offices at Brimmer Street; remodeling the Library and Learning Resources Center at 150 Beacon; remodeling the 303 Berkeley building for the Humanities and Social Sciences Division; a new radio/audio complex at 126 Beacon; and construction of two new television studios behind 130 Beacon. In 1984, 335 Commonwealth Avenue was purchased for Administration and the Communication Studies department. The college also received the authorization to grant MFA degrees in Creative Writing.
Despite the newly purchased Commonwealth Avenue buildings, Lawrence, Massachusetts, was soon being discussed as a new location for Emerson College, about away from Boston. The Mayor of Lawrence announced that the necessary land would be taken by eminent domain and sold to Emerson for a token payment of $100. However, the five affected private landowners disagreed with this arrangement and fought the city in court. Three years later in 1988, Judge John Forte ruled in favor of the City of Lawrence. The river-front site in Lawrence was proposed as the new campus for the college. However, as real estate values in Boston dropped and the costs of constructing a new campus increased, the plans were put on hold and eventually abandoned when Koenig resigned as president in 1989. In 1988, the college bought a building at Zero Marlborough Street for dormitories and a dining hall.