Cherry L. Emerson Papers
Collection
Identifier: MS029
Cherry L. Emerson, the son of Georgia Tech’s first dean, Dr. William Henry Emerson, graduated from Georgia Tech in 1909 and embarked upon a successful engineering career which included over twenty-five years with Robert and Company. In 1945, he returned to Georgia Tech as Dean of the School of Engineering. In 1948, he was named vice-president; under his direction, the institution’s physical plant nearly doubled in size. He left Georgia Tech in 1955 and died in 1959. His papers include correspondence, financial records, printed material, and reports, documenting the Southern Technical Institute, Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the Engineering Experiment Station.
(five record center cartons)
Personnel and salary information are restricted.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
5 Linear Feet
The Cherry L. Emerson Papers include correspondence, financial records, printed material, and reports, documenting the Southern Technical Institute, Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the Engineering Experiment Station.
Cherry Logan Emerson, the son of Dr. William Henry Emerson, the first dean of Georgia Tech, graduated from Georgia Tech in 1909. He joined Westinghouse Electric in 1910, then went to work for Duke Power Company in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1914. In 1919, he returned to Atlanta, joining Robert and Company. He became chief engineer in 1922 and vice-president in 1924. When L. W. (Chip) Robert was named Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Treasury in 1933, Emerson succeeded him as president of Robert and Company.
He came to Georgia Tech as dean of the school of engineering in 1945 and was named vice-president in charge of expansion in 1948. Under his direction, the physical plant of Georgia Tech nearly doubled in size. He left Georgia Tech in 1955. He served as a national director for the Boy Scouts of America, and was active in the Atlanta Rotary Club and Covenant Presbyterian Church. He also was involved in numerous professional engineering organizations, and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega, Phi Kappa Phi, and ANAK.
Emerson was married to the former Sina White (d. 1965), an Atlanta native. They had a daughter, Mrs. Richard W. Cross, and a son, Cherry L. Emerson, Jr. Emerson died in 1959 in Atlanta.
A print copy of this finding aid is available on request in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
Unknown (Accession #1987.0101; old number: #87-01-01).
(five record center cartons)
In an effort to provide broader access, this finding aid has not been fully expanded, but presented as a simple collection summary, without a detailed box and folder list.
Christine de Catanzaro encoded this collection summary in March 2006.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository