baldwin was born in 1879 in lewiston, maine, the eldest of five children of a congregationist minister. she moved with her family at the age of nine to east orange, new jersey, where she was educated in private school before entering bates college in 1896. after one year, she transferred to cornell university where she was named to the phi beta kappa honor society and from where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1900.