Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

Weren't They the Parents in Cheaper by the Dozen? The Gilbreths and Scientific Management in Rhode Island

Lillian Moller Gilbreth and Frank Bunker Gilbreth were early twentieth-century efficiency consultants who studied the movements of Rhode Island factory workers in order to streamline their labor, reduce fatigue, and maximize productivity. With a PhD in psychology from Brown University, Lillian also collaborated with her husband on books about scientific management and raised eleven children. In Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey offer a comic portrait of how their parents applied principles of efficiency to the business of running a large household. This slide presentation tells the story of an intriguing pair of working parents whose partnership anticipated America's changing social and technological demands.

Jane Lancaster is an award-winning teacher, researcher, and writer. She received a PhD from Brown University, writing a dissertation on the life of engineer Lillian Moller Gilbreth (the mother of twelve celebrated in Cheaper by the Dozen). Her work on Rhode Island women has been published in periodicals ranging from the Providence Journal to the Journal of American History.

Availability: is sometimes away during the summer months Needs: slide projector and screen; lighted lectern/water

Needs: slide projector and screen; lighted lectern/water