Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and their twelve children were the topic of the popular book Cheaper by the Dozen (1948). The Gilbreths were both professional efficiency experts who studied time and motion to improve and simplify innumerable human functions, from manual labor to household chores. Naturally, their own home in Montclair, New Jersey, became a discovery lab for better and more economical ways of doing things, from washing dishes to raking leaves. Two Gilbreth children, Frank Jr. and Ernestine, wrote the lighthearted family memoir and took the title from a favorite saying of their father, who would explain his profuse progeny as cheaper by the dozen.
This painting by Andrew Loomis was commissioned for the January 1949 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal to illustrate excerpts from the new book.
