Born on October 17, 1881, in Chatellerault, France, to Hilaire and Marie (Blanchard) Chinard, educated at the Universities of Poitiers and Bordeaux, in 1908, he married Emma Blanchard, then moved to New York as a visiting instructor in French Literature, leading him in an American academic career, teaching positions at Brown University (1908–12), the University of California, Berkeley (1912-1919), Johns Hopkins University (1919–36), and Princeton University (1937-1950).
Among the many books he authored, were, notably: “Thomas Jefferson, the Apostle of Americanism” (1929), “Hon, est John Adams” (1933) and “L'Apothdose de Benjamin Franklin”, published in Paris in 1955. Famed as a ''Jefferson scholar''. He is noted as being sympathetic to Jefferson.
During WWII, Chinard was active in Free France. In May 1941, Chinard was "one of the seven most influential French men in America" who wrote President Roosevelt, to "congratulate him on his strong warning to the Vichy government."
In 1942, he presided over a France Forever meeting. And in 1946, joined its ceremonial activities with Albert Simard.
Chinard died on February 8, 1972, in Princeton, at the age of 90.
The ''Gilbert Chinard Prize'' is awarded each year by the Society for French Historical Studies - for a book published the preceding year by a North American press in one of the two following fields: the history of French-American relations; or the comparative history of France and North, Central, or South America.
