Ellen Deborah Ellis was born on November 25, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Philadelphia public schools and graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1901. She received an A.M. in 1902, and a Ph.D. in 1905, both from Bryn Mawr. In 1905 she began teaching Economics and Political Science at Mount Holyoke College. She became chair of the Political Science Department in 1939, and she retired in 1944. She wrote many books and articles for various journals and magazines. Ellen Deborah Ellis died on December 20, 1974, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.