“ Rockwell had become deeply interested in reformatory institutions for boys and girls, and she gave herself with enthusiasm to a work which seemed to open just the field for which her preferences and pursuits had prepared her. ”

“ After some years spent as a teacher in schools of that kind in Philadelphia, New York and Providence, her work as assistant superintendent of the Connecticut Industrial School for Girls, in Middletown, attracted the attention of leading philanthropists and reformers, as seeming to give a practical solution of many questions in relation to reformatory and industrial training, which were then widely discussed. In 1876 the National Prison Congress met in New York. ”

“ She is earnest and practical in the promotion of manual training and technical education, and to her patient study and efforts much of the success of that movement in several States may be traced. Her more important recent papers have been "The Duty of the State to its Dependent Children," and "Training and Employments in Reformatories." ”