Background
Linda Gilbert was the daughter of Horace Gilbert. She was born in Rochester, New York.
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Linda Gilbert was the daughter of Horace Gilbert. She was born in Rochester, New York.
When Linda was four years old her parents moved to Chicago where Linda was sent to a convent, and later attended the academy of Our Lady of Mercy.
When she was about ten, on her way to and from school, she daily passed one of Chicago’s jails. The despairing faces in the windows aroused uncommon interest and resolve in the child’s mind.
One prisoner asked Linda to bring him a book. This she did, and, learning that prisoners were not furnished reading matter, she determined to remedy that condition. Accordingly when she became a young woman she established in Chicago the first county jail library.
It consisted of miscellaneous books. She then set herself to providing libraries for as many jails as possible and to assisting prisoners in whatever way she could, soon becoming known as the “Prisoners’ Friend. ”
Beginning work in New York City in 1873, she devoted much attention to the Ludlow Street jail and The Tombs. News of her constructive work traveled to Europe and she received offers of financial help from Italy, France, and Germany, providing she would extend her work to those countries. She refused, saying that there was far more to be done in America than she could hope to accomplish.
Having inherited a small fortune, she was free to use the money to advance her cause, but felt that more money was needed and that it was part of society’s duty to care properly for its prisoners and to provide for their rehabilitation when they were released.
In 1876, she established and incorporated in New York State, the Gilbert Library and Prisoner’s Aid Society. Its purpose was to provide prison libraries and to assist ex-convicts to obtain employment. It carried on this work until 1883.
She also wrote many articles for the press, advocating prison reforms and the duty of the public to ex-convicts. Having a fondness for mechanics, she invented several small devices, among them a wire clothespin.
In 1876, she published Sketch of the Life and Work of Linda Gilbert. It consists chiefly of many case records designed as an appeal to the public for funds with which to carry on her work.
She died at her home in Mt. Vernon, New York.
Linda establishe her own Gilbert Library and Prisoners' Aid Fund. In addition to raising money, she visited prisons, bringing gifts of food and flowers and writing letters for inmates. When prisoners were released, she often provided them with clothing, lodging, and assistance in finding employment. To further support her prison work, Gilbert was thought to have patented several inventions, including a noiseless rail for railroads and a wire clothespin, although her name is not included in the index of women inventors given federal patents.
