The first edition of American Men of Science[3] described her being educated through private schools while growing up.[2] Foot was a member of the New York Women's club Sorosis.[3] The Advancement of Women club was organized under Sorosis and included the prominent member Alice Fletcher, the American Indian ethnographer. Foot was interested in Indians, and became president of the Washington auxiliary of the Women's National Indian Association, an organization that lobbied on behalf of Native Americans, in the mid 1800s. She accompanied Fletcher on a trip to Alaska to investigate Indians in the area.