Emerson, Louville Eugene

Emerson (Harvard, Ph.D. 1909), psychotherapist, was the first clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, examiner in psychopathology at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, and assistant in neurology at Harvard Medical School. He inaugurated the Patient Lecture series at Harvard Medical School in 1925 and wrote several books.

From the description of Papers of Louville Eugene Emerson, 1910-1934 (bulk). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 281435150

Louville Eugene Emerson was born October 3, 1873 in Portland Maine, where he remained through high school. In 1892, he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he finished four of the five years needed to complete his degree. He tried a variety of jobs for several years before focusing his interests at the age of 30. At that time, he entered the graduate program in Philosophy at Harvard University; from here on, his career reflected his goal “to apply the principles of philosophy and psychology to the practice of psychotherapy.”

In 1909, Emerson finished his thesis, a physiological investigation in experimental psychology, and graduated with a Ph.D. He then married Mary Fife, who received her M.A. from Radcliffe in 1903. After a six-month stay in Europe, the couple moved to Michigan where Emerson assumed a temporary teaching position at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 1910, he also began treating patients with a modified version of Jungian and Freudian analysis at the newly opened Michigan Psychopathic Hospital. He was soon back in Boston, where through the help of James Jackson Putnam he became the first clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1912, he joined the staff at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. His first book, Nervousness: its Causes, Treatment and Prevention, was published in 1928; The Physician and the Patient (1929) sampled his lectures at the Harvard Medical School.

This collection contains voluminous correspondence between Emerson and his wife Mary. Also featured are sections of patient correspondence and notes on their cases. A variety of other personal and professional letters and papers round out this collection.

From the guide to the Louville Eugene Emerson papers, 1891-1945 (inclusive)., (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.Center for the History of Medicine.)