Ellen F. Adams was born in Springfield, Missouri on June 2, 1893 to Charles Darwin Adams, a Greek scholar, and Julia Stevens. She graduated from Hanover High School in 1911. In 1915 she received a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College, and attended the New York State Library School until 1917. She then worked at Skidmore School of Arts. She became the first woman to receive a full professorship at Dartmouth College as Associate Librarian, and worked there until 1959. In 1955 she received an honarary Master's Degree from Dartmouth College. Her brother David worked as a professor of religion at Mount Holyoke College. Ellen F. Adams died on May 31, 1985 in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The Ellen Frances Adams Papers consist of correspondence, photographs, and negatives. The letters range from 1911-1937 with particular focus on her years at Mount Holyoke, 1911-1915. The letters during this time are primarily written to Adams by her parents, Charles Darwin Adams and Julia Stevens Adams, including comments on her academic performance, daily life at home, and the weather along with academic advice from her father. Later letters, primarily written to her father, describe Adams' experiences while a librarian at Dartmouth College. The photographs and negatives include pictures of Adams and her friends and relatives as well as scenes of Mount Holyoke.

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Ellen F. Adams Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts