Reverend Emil M. Hartl was an American social reformer who primarily served as the director of the Charles Hayden Goodwill Inn of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, commonly known in 2019 as “Goodwill”. He also served as Goodwill’s director of rehabilitation, continuing to work with them until his nineties. He received his doctorate in Theology from Boston University in 1938, and served as the vice-president, then the president of the Boston University General Alumni Association during the 1950s. He coauthored several papers with William Herbert Sheldon (1898-1977), a then popular American psychologist who created the fields of somatotype and constitutional psychology that link a person’s temperament to their body type. The research was conducted with Hartl’s assistance by providing Sheldon with nude photographs and personal interviews of the Goodwill Inn’s residents, 14-17 year old boys who were considered “troubled adolescents” and were often lacking parents or stable homes.

The results of these studies were used to write Varieties of Delinquent Youth: An Introduction to Constitutional Psychiatry in 1949, which Hartl contributed to. Hartl also wrote a book, Physique and Delinquent Behavior: A Thirty Year Follow Up of William H. Sheldon’s Varieties of Delinquent Youth, which was published in 1982. Since the basis for these judgements was visual and tended to be highly subjective, the theory and methodology has been largely discredited by the scientific community, though some of the stereotypes the study perpetuated have persisted in popular culture. Hartl also gave the eulogy at Sheldon’s funeral in 1977. As of 2010, Goodwill offers an annual Emil Hartl Award to an outstanding employee who embodies the qualities of creativity, innovation, and leadership.