From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Linda Gilbert
Linda Gilbert
Linda Gilbert railroads, and a wire clothes-pin, and established Linda
Gilbert’s Tax and Trade Record.
In 1876 the Gilbert Library and Prisoners’ Aid Society
was incorporated under the laws of the state of New
York, and Gilbert became president of its board of man-
agers. The objects of the Society were to improve prison
discipline, to place libraries in every prison and jail in the
country, to look after the prisoner’s family if in need and
worthy of aid, and to help convicts to lead upright lives
after their discharge. Although lack of funds prevented
the Society from doing any work after 1883, Gilbert con-
tinued to labor as an individual.
In all, she established 22 libraries in six states. In Lin-
coln, Nebraska, her books were a means of educating
18-20 native Americans who were sentenced to long
terms. She procured employment for 6,000 ex-convicts,
over 500 of whom she started out as pedlars, furnishing
them with outfits worth $3-$5; all this was accomplished
with less than 10% recidivism. She felt society more re-
sponsible than the criminal for crime.
Signature
References
• This article incorporates text from a publication
Linda Gilbert (13 May 1847 Rochester, New York - 24 Oc- now in the public domain: "Gilbert, Linda". Appletons’
tober 1895 Mount Vernon, New York) was a prison re- Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
former. Early in life, she became interested in efforts to • Willard, Frances E.; Livermore, Mary A. (1893). A
improve the condition of prisons and prisoners, and en- woman of the century. p. 318.
deavored “to remove the conditions that produce crime, http://books.google.com/
by a wholesome system of industry and culture.” She books?id=p8AqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA318.
succeeded in placing in various prisons libraries of from
1,500 to 2,000 volumes each, and aggregating 30,000 vol-
umes.
External links
• Gilbert Library and Prisoners’ Aid Society at
Biography britannica.com
• Biography and references at inthefirstperson.com
At the age of 4, she moved with her family to Chicago, Illi- Persondata
nois. She was educated there at St. Mary’s Convent. Her
Name Gilbert, Linda
home was opposite the jail of Cook County, Illinois. At the
age of 11, she gave some books from her grandfather’s li- Alternative names
brary to the prisoners there. When she was 17, she estab- Short description
lished the first county-jail library there. At 15, she had in- Date of birth 13 May 1847
herited money. After spending $100,000 on philanthropy,
Place of birth
the remainder was lost in a bank failure, and her philan-
thropic efforts required much more effort. Date of death 24 October 1895
Gilbert developed several entrepreneurial projects as Place of death
a source of funds for her philanthropic projects. She
patented several devices, including a noiseless rail for
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Linda Gilbert
Categories:
• 1847 births
• 1895 deaths
• American philanthropists
• American inventors
• American activists
• Philanthropist stubs
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