A Short Biography

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 Harrington Emerson was born on the 2nd of August 1853 in New Jersey, USA. He was well-educated and attended multiple private schools in Europe before going on to study archaeology, languages and engineering at the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic in Germany. He graduated in 1875 and went on to become a Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Nebraska. However, his diverse background of studies provided him with progressive ideas about the future of education. These were not popular with the religious, fundamental reagents at the University and Emerson was asked to leave the faculty in 1882.

Emerson then went on to work for the Union Pacific Railroads as a frontier banker, trouble-shooter, tax agent and land speculator. His ability to work efficiently was honed in this multitasking environment, and soon he was able to establish his own private loan company in 1883. Although this business venture eventually failed, it was only the beginning of Emerson’s diverse and entrepreneurial career. In later years he went on to represent an English investment syndicate, had a lead role in William Jennings Bryan’s Presidential campaign, oversaw various ambitious engineering projects and ended up as an industrial consultant. 

Most of Emerson’s early projects and ventures were unsuccessful, but this only gave him an in-depth knowledge of the various methods of modern management and industrial engineering. He learned what worked well, and what didn’t. Later in his career, this expertise made him one of America’s leading pioneers as an efficiency educator. One of his greatest accomplishments was winning the 1910 Eastern Freight Case, where he testified in court that the railroads lost one million dollars daily due to a lack of efficiency. His subsequent fame allowed him to spread his ideas about scientific management, and he became known as the High Priest of Efficiency. Emerson died in 1931, yet his principles of management science have since been used by countless businesses and organisations up to the present day.


-Ella

Collection: Harrington Emerson papers | Archival Collections (psu.edu)

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