No. 7217 Henry L. Southwick
Men of Progress. Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (Boston, 1894), 524
Henry Lawrence Southwick, of Boston, secretary and senior professor of the Emerson College of Oratory, is a native of Boston, born June 21, 1863, son of John and Mary Frances (Lawrence) Southwick. His father, a retired physician, took great interest in his early education, which was acquired in the public schools. He graduated from the Dorchester High School in 188o with high honors, being chosen the valedictorian of his class; and, having early displayed proficiency in literary work and the rhetorical art, then pursued special studies under private teachers. Deciding to adopt journalism as a profession, he obtained a position on the staff of the Boston Herald, and served that journal from 1880 to 1887 in various capacities,— as reporter, exchange reader, correspondent, and special writer. During his active journalistic work he found time for historical studies and for lecturing, which speedily brought him into prominence. In 188i he wrote an essay entitled ” The Policy of the Massachusetts Colonists towards Quakers and Others whom they considered as Intruders ” which received the ” Old South Prize ” instituted by the late Mrs. Mary Hemenway, of Boston; and in 1882 he made his first appearance before a Boston audience, having a part in the city celebration of Washington’s Birthday that year. Shortly after he was invited to a place in the regular Old South course of lectures, given in the Old South Meeting-house ; and the lecture which he delivered — on the subject of Patrick Henry —was commended as one of the best in the series. In 1885 he entered the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory as a student, and here came under the personal instruction of Professor Charles W. Emerson, now the president of the Emerson College. He soon resolved to exchange the profession of the journalist for that of the elocutionist and lecturer, and, resigning his place on the Herald, devoted himself wholly to preparation for his new work. In 1888, while still a student, pursuing post-graduate studies, he filled an engagement of several weeks as teacher of elocution in Bates College, Lewiston, Me.; later took charge of the department of elocution and oratory at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute, and in the autumn lectured before teachers and private classes in Providence and Pawtucket, R.I. In the spring of 1888 he was elected master of reading and oratory at the William Penn Charter School of Philadelphia, and in the autumn following introduced the Emerson system in that city. The next autumn he returned to Boston, having accepted a call from President Emerson to the secretaryship, and the professorship of dramatic expression in the college, and has since remained there, meeting with marked success in his work. His regular departments now are ” Principles of Oratory,” ” Shakespearian Interpretation,” and ” Dramatic Action ” ; and he is a regular lecturer in the college course on history and literature. Professor Southwick also carries on work in summer schools, having charge of the department of reacting and oratory at the National School of Methods, at Glen’s Falls, N.Y., and the Virginia School of Methods. He is a frequent lecturer in winter lyceum courses on such subjects as ” Hamlet, the Man of Will,” ” Sir Walter Raleigh,” and the ” Life and ‘limes of Patrick Henry,” and occasionally gives recitals. He is president of the Dorchester High School Alumni Association, to which position he has been four times re-elected; is president of the Emerson College Alumni Association, an ex-president of the Old South Historical Society, member of the Boston Press Club, and a Freemason, member of Mount Lebanon Lodge of Boston. He was married May 3o, 1889, to Miss Jessie Eldridge, distinguished as a dramatic reader and teacher. They have one child : Ruth Southwick. Mrs. Southwick is also connected with the Emerson College of Oratory as teacher of dramatic expression, rendering of Shakespeare, and voice culture.