Elisabeth M. Bardwell was born on December 4, 1831 in Colrain, Massachusetts to Amos and Minerva Bardwell. She attended the Academy at Shelburne Falls under principal Albion Byron Clark. She graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1866 and immediately began teaching algebra, trigonometry, physics, and astronomy. In 1873 Bardwell did graduate work at Dartmouth College in mathematics. She was instrumental in the building of the John Payson Williston Observatory at Mount Holyoke in 1880. Elisabeth M. Bardwell died on May 27, 1899.