Mary Olivia Nutting was born on July 1, 1831 in Randloph Center, Vermont to William and Mary Barrett Nutting. She attended Orange County Grammar School and in 1850 entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. After graduating in 1852 she taught at schools in Ohio, including Oxford Female Seminary. She was appointed as Mount Holyoke's first librarian in 1870 and held that position until her retirement in 1901. She also acted as the Treasurer's representative and collected money for the school. Between 1866-1902 Nutting wrote four books for young adults, some of them published under a pen name of Mary Barrett. She wrote a historical sketch about Mount Holyoke (1876) and provided information for Sarah D. Locke Stow's "History of Mount Holyoke Seminary" (1887). She also wrote articles that were published in magazines and Sunday school books. After her retirement she devoted much of her time to encouraging Mount Holyoke to build Peterson Lodge, an apartment house for retired faculty. She died on February 13, 1910 in South Hadley, Massachusetts at the age of seventy-nine.