Ruth Sawyer, the youngest of five children, was born on August 5, 1880, in Boston, Massachusetts. The only daughter of Timothy and Ethalinda Sawyer, she attended Miss Brackett's Private School in New York City and then, in 1888, went on to the Garland Kindergarten Normal School. Upon graduation she accepted a position in Cuba demonstrating the art of storytelling to teachers setting up a kindergarten for orphans. Her work in Cuba led to a scholarship to Columbia University, where she received a bachelor of science degree in education in 1904. While still a student, she worked for the New York Sun and spent two summers in Ireland writing feature stories for the newspaper and collecting Irish folktales for her own publications. She began her career as a professional storyteller and lecturer in 1908, setting up the first storytelling program for children in the New York libraries.

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