Ruth Underhill was born into an upper middle-class Quaker family in Ossining-On- Hudson, New York, in 1884. After a B.A. at Vassar, social work in the Eastern U.S. and service with the American Red Cross in Italy during World War I, she enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Columbia University. On June 28, 1984, the president of the American Anthropological Association honored Underhill for popularizing anthropology in responsible manner, for her early work in applied anthropology and the study of women's roles, and for her scholarship and teaching.