page_title: Lillian Moller Gilbreth
section_title: Volunteer work and government service
hierarchical_section_title: Lillian Moller Gilbreth / Career / Volunteer work and government service
caption_attribution_description: Description: Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972) earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University but is best known, along with her husband Frank Bunker Gilbreth, for revolutionizing management techniques. In Cheaper by the Dozen (1948), their children lovingly described life in the unusually &quot;efficient&quot; Gilbreth family. This photograph was distributed during the Great Depression when Lillian Gilbreth chaired the Women's Division of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment, working on how &quot;to assist needy families in buying health protection with their food money.&quot; Creator/Photographer: Harris &amp; Ewing Medium: Black and white photographic print Persistent URL: [1] Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives Collection: Science Service Records, 1902-1965 (Record Unit 7091) - Science Service, now the Society for Science &amp; the Public, was a news organization founded in 1921 to promote the dissemination of scientific and technical information. Although initially intended as a news service, Science Service produced an extensive array of news features, radio programs, motion pictures, phonograph records, and demonstration kits and it also engaged in various educational, translation, and research activities. Accession number: SIA2008-1924
context_page_description: Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as "a genius in the art of living." Gilbreth, one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D., is considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist. She and her husband, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, were efficiency experts who contributed to the study of industrial engineering, especially in the areas of motion study and human factors. Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes, written by two of their children tell the story of their family life and describe how time-and-motion studies were applied to the organization and daily activities of their large family. Both books were later made into feature films.
context_section_description: Gilbreth continued her private consulting practice while serving as a volunteer and an adviser to several government agencies and nonprofit groups. In 1927 she became a charter member of the Altrusa Club of New York City, an organization for Professional and Business Women started in 1917 for the purpose of providing community service Gilbreth's government work began as a result of her longtime friendship with Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, both of whom she had known in California; (Gilbreth had presided over the Women's Branch of the Engineers' Hoover for President campaign.)
  Lou Hoover urged Gilbreth to join the Girl Scouts as a consultant in 1929. She remained active in the organization for more than twenty years, becoming a member of its board of directors. During the Great Depression President Hoover appointed Gilbreth to the Organization on Unemployment Relief as head of the "Share the Work" program. In 1930, under the Hoover administration, she headed the women's section of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment and helped to gain the cooperation of women's groups for reducing unemployment. During World War II Gilbreth continued advising governmental groups and also provided expertise on education and labor issues (especially women in the workforce) for organizations such as the War Manpower Commission, the Office of War Information, and the U.S. Navy. In her later years, Gilbreth served on the Chemical Warfare Board and on Harry Truman's Civil Defense Advisory Council.  During the Korean War she served on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
caption: A photograph of Gilbreth distributed during the Great Depression
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