Montclair has its share of famous people. This Women’s History Month, we’ll use this blog to pay tribute to several women who called Montclair home at some point in their lives and who broke through barriers in their respective fields. This week, we’re highlighting Lillian Gilbreth. Most known for role as “mom” in Cheaper by the Dozen, she broke their barriers in the male-dominated engineering field.
Lillian Gilbreth: Engineer
Born to William Moller and Annie Delger in 1878, Lillian Gilbreth was the oldest of eight children in their family in Oakland, California. She began school when she was nine years old and clearly enjoyed it because she wanted to continue her education at the university level. Her parents, not unlike many in the 19th century, did not se a need for her to go to college. She fought against them and won – as long as she went to the University of California Berkeley so she could live at home. She graduated with an degree in literature and wanted to pursue her Masters degree at Columbia University in New York. Far from home, Lillian was miserable and returned to UC Berkeley to complete her Masters in English Literature.
On a grand tour of Europe following graduation, she met Frank Bunker Gilbreth, ten years her senior, and married him in 1904. Frank was a well-known builder in Boston and was becoming known for his work on discovering the “one best way” to accomplish tasks through motion studies. In today’s parlance, his work would be known as efficiency studies.
Lillian and Frank were partners in work as well as in their domestic life. Lillian had the education and writing skills to write and publish their studies. With her at his side, he gave up his building work and focused on improving efficiency in the workplace. Their reputation as management consultants – and their family – continued to grow. With the help of Frank’s mother and several domestic workers, Lillian was able to devote a significant amount of time to their work.
Lillian earned her PhD from Brown University with a dissertation titled “The Psychology of Management” in 1915. Whereas Frank was most interested in processes that improved efficiency, Lillian was interested in how workers responded to the work. Together they looked at the most efficient ways to lay bricks, make soap, wash dishes, and brush teeth, to name a few.
To be closer to New York City, they moved their family from Rhode Island to 68 Eagle Rock Way in Montclair. They applied their efficiency skills to their home, developing the “Gilbreth System,” which was immortalized in the book and movie Cheaper by the Dozen.
Frank died in 1924 in the Lackawanna Train station on his way to New York City. They had been scheduled to speak in Europe shortly after his death and Lillian, realizing the business was now in her hands and knowing that she, as a woman, had to prove she was up to the task, boarded a ship just days after his death to attend the conference.
After his death, Lillian continued to consult, research, and write. She taught at Purdue University, the Newark College of Engineering, and the University of Wisconsin. She began to apply their motion studies and management ideas to the home. She introduced the concept of the “work triangle” in the kitchen, the foot-pedal trashcan, and the egg keeper and butter tray on refrigerator doors.
Lillian Gilbreth was a trailblazer in the engineering world. She was the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineers, the second woman elected to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the first woman to receive the Hoover Award, which is given by five engineering organizations recognizing “great, unselfish, non-technical services by engineers to humanity.” She is included in Who’s Who in American Women, Notable American Women, and American Men of Science.
The home where Lillian and Frank lived at 68 Eagle Rock Way is no longer there. Her contributions to science, however, have withstood the test of time. Lillian passed away on January 2, 1972. In 1984, Lillian M. Gilbreth was recognized by the U.S. Postal Service with a commemorative stamp in the Great Americans series.