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Charles Wesley Emerson (1837 - 1908) was the founder and first president of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Charles Emerson is also the author of a number of books dealing with oratory and a minister with the Unitarian Church.

Prior to establishing the College, Emerson was a minister who preached in Congregational and Unitarian parishes until 1885. In 1877, Charles Emerson enrolled in Boston University's School of Oratory where he studied Delsarte and Swedenborg under the direction and guidance of Professor Lewis B. Monrore.

In 1879, Emerson studies medicine in Philadelphia and conducts courses in elocution, expression, voice culture, art, and topics related to oratory at the Unitarian Church of Vineland, New Jersey.

Shortly after the death of Lewis B. Monrore and the closure of the School of Oratory at Boston College, Emerson opens the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art in 1880. A year later, the name will change to the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, in honor of Monrore.

During his time as president of the Conservatory, Emerson publishes a number of books including four volumes of The Evolution of Expression which becomes the core text in the Conservatory's curriculum.

In 1900, Henry and Jessie Southwick purchased the institution of the college. Emerson retires three years later and William J. Rolfe takes his place as president of the college.

Emerson believed that the ability to communicate was the key to achieving one's full potential. Emerson was confident that once a student completed his academic program, he would have future success, no matter what endeavor or profession they chose.

There is some question as to whether or not Charles Wesley Emerson is related to Ralph Waldo Emerson. They were both Unitarian ministers; Charles was a family name in Ralph Waldo Emerson family, and they were both alive during the same century. It turns out they were remotely related. Their great ancestor, Thomas Emerson, immigrant, settled as early as 1640 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and was the progenitor of a race of ministers and learned men.

There is no evidence to support accusations that Emerson was a serial adulterer that had been raised by historian George S. Rascott.

Emerson is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Milford, Massachusetts [1].

• Psycho vox; The Emerson system of voice culture (1897)
• Physical Culture (1891)
• Expressive Physical Culture (1900)
• Evolution of Expression - Volume 1 (1905)
  • Read on Project Gutenberg
  • Read on Manybooks.net

• Works by Charles Wesley Emerson at Project Gutenberg
• Short History of Emerson College
• Emerson College Image Archives