Skip to main content
Menu
Site: Emerson Hall, Harvard University.
View All Records View On Map
Emerson Hall
Site: Emerson Hall, Harvard University.
Site: Emerson Hall, Harvard University.
Harvard University, Property Information Resource Center.

Emerson Hall

Address19, Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number319
Building Root Number 04365
Architect (Original)
Building Acquired 1905
Constructed 1905
Dedicated 1905
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named for Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, A.B. 1821), the Transcendentalist writer and philosopher.Historical NotesEmerson Hall was designed by architect Guy Lowell (A.B. 1892) of Boston and completed for Harvard in 1905. The building was designed to hold the Department of Philosophy, the Social Ethics Department, and the Social Museum. The Social Museum was located on the second floor until 1931 when changing trends in education lead the University to re-organize the Department. The Social Ethics Department was absorbed into the new Department of Sociology and the Department of Social Relations. These departments were moved to other locations on campus. Emerson Hall still houses Harvard's Department of Philosophy.

The building was funded by gifts of Alfred Tredway White (hon. A.M. 1890) who was a housing developer in Brooklyn, New York. White was a supporter of the Social Ethics ideals posited by Francis Greenwood Peabody, a professor in Theology at the Harvard Divinity School and the founder of Harvard's Social Ethics program.


Additional Information
The Harvard Social Ethics Museum was previously located on the second floor until 1931.
Robbins Philosophy Library
Bechtel Room
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
Maycock, Susan E., and Charles Sullivan. Building old Cambridge: architecture and development. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016. Print. Lamont Library call number NA735.C28 M39 2016; Loeb Design Library call number NA735.C28 M39 2016.
“A Dedication. Emerson Hall, at Harvard, Opened with Appropriate Exercises.” Cambridge Tribune, 30 Dec. 1905, p. 5.
“Consecrated to the Humanities": Emerson Hall, Dedicated Yesterday, First at Harvard Designed to Serve That End.” Boston Daily Globe, 28 Dec. 1905, p. 16.
“Plans Approved. Details of the Construction of Emerson Hall, the New Harvard Philosophical Building.” Cambridge Tribune, 23 Apr. 1904, p. 11.
“Emerson Hall.” Cambridge Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1905, p. 15.
“Emerson Hall Final Plans.” The Harvard Crimson, 14 Apr. 1904, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1904/4/14/emerson-hall-final-plans-pthe-final/.
“Harvard University Active. Emerson Hall, the Largest New Enterprise, Just Completed-Memorial Hall Receiving an Important Addition.” Cambridge Chronicle, 9 Sept. 1905, p. 18.
General Information by and about Emerson House. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1361.2.
Hammond, Mason. Note on the Inscription on Emerson Hall. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1361.36.
Subscriptions records: subscription for Emerson Hall, 1901-1905. Harvard University Archives call number UAI 15.1380.
Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution. Hannah Winthrop chapter, Cambridge. An Historic Guide to Cambridge. 2nd ed., rev. ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1907
Weber, Paul J. Photographs of Harvard University Buildings and Grounds Taken by Paul J. Weber, Ca. 1929-1931 and 1939. Harvard University Archives call number HUV 2329
“Preparing for Emerson Hall.” Boston Evening Transcript, 2 May 1904, p. 1.
“Emerson Hall Opened.” Boston Evening Transcript, 27 Dec. 1905, p. 2.
“Emerson Hall Foundations In.” Boston Evening Transcript, 20 Aug. 1904, p. 3.
“Harvard Men Plan Building Named for Emerson for Philosophical Department.” Boston Post, 15 Feb. 1902, p. 9.
“For Building Emerson Hall.” Boston Evening Transcript, 2 June 1904, p. 7.
“Emerson Hall, Dedicated Yesterday, First at Harvard Designed to Serve That End.” Boston Globe, 28 Dec. 1905, p. 16.
“$12,000 for Emerson Hall Fund.” The Harvard Crimson, 28 Apr. 1903, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1903/4/28/12000-for-emerson-hall-fund-pa/.
“Site of Emerson Hall Settled.” The Harvard Crimson, 18 May 1903, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1903/5/18/site-of-emerson-hall-settled-pby/.
“To Begin on Emerson Hall.” Boston Evening Transcript, 13 Apr. 1904, p. 3.
“Social Ethics at Harvard.” Boston Evening Transcript, 27 May 1905, p. 16.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
Related Projects