Raymond A. Hare was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia on April 3, 1901 and raised in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[1] He was educated at Grinnell College, receiving a B.A. in 1924.[1] After college, the president of Grinnell offered Hare a position at Robert College in Istanbul and Hare worked as an instructor at Robert College from 1924 to 1926.[1] During his time in Istanbul, he developed a lifelong fascination with Islamic architecture and began a collection of notes and photographs that he later donated to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the end of his career.[1] He spent 1926-27 working at the American Chamber of Commerce for the Levant and liaising with the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.[1]