A talented musician in her youth, Denmark attended the Baptist University for Women (now Meredith College) and graduated with an artist's diploma in piano in 1908.

After the resignation of Anderson president John E. White in September 1927, her name was put forward as a potential successor and she had gained the full support of the trustees by December of that year.

The remainder of the college's debt was paid off by the South Carolina Baptist Convention in May 1938, and attendance increased as World War II ended and the school enrolled more men than it ever had since becoming co-educational in 1931.

She announced her resignation in April 1952 and ultimately left office in May 1953 following that year's commencement, concluding a 25-year presidency that remains the longest in Anderson's history.

She was promptly elected president emeritus by the trustees and given an apartment on campus, though she instead retired to her hometown of Goldsboro, North Carolina, where she lived until her death in 1974.

She was the recipient of multiple honors during her life and following her death: Furman University awarded her an honorary degree in 1941, Anderson established the Denmark Society and the Annie Dove Denmark award in 1944 and 1976, respectively, she was made the namesake of a dormitory building on campus in 1966, and was inducted into the Anderson County Museum Hall of Fame in 2004.

[7] In addition to teaching piano at Shorter, she taught a Sunday school class for young women at the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in Rome.

[23] She is sometimes referred to as the first woman college president in South Carolina,[24][25] though she was predated in this distinction by Euphemia McClintock some 26 years earlier.

[6] The Founders Day ceremony was often accompanied by a guest speaker, including people such as Clemson University President E. Walter Sikes[6] and South Carolina First Lady Gladys Atkinson Johnston, an Anderson graduate and the wife of Governor Olin D.

[36] The debt grew larger as the middle of the decade neared and in 1935–1936 the college was paying $3,600 (equivalent to $63,000 in 2023) yearly in interest alone to the Hibernia Trust Company.

[38] The college did, however, collect $20,000 (equivalent to $345,000 in 2023) as a result of their storm insurance policy, which went towards restoring the heating plant and other general refurbishments.

[43] The college, still in some need of funds and a stable endowment, received $60,000 (equivalent to $715,000 in 2023) from the Baptist State Convention sometime between 1946 and 1947, which was used to modernize some of the campus's buildings.

[46] Throughout her presidency, she kept close the college's ties with the church, as chapel attendance remained a requirement for all students, five days a week, up to and through her resignation.

[49] In her letter, she referenced the school's freedom from debt and good prospects for future financial support as well as her desire to allow the new president enough time to prepare for the next academic year.

[49] She gave her final president's report on January 22, 1953; at the same meeting, president-elect Elmer Francis Haight was introduced to the trustees.

[55] After suffering declining health for several months, she died on the morning of January 16, 1974, at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro,[15] at the age of 86.

[25] Similarly, the Annie Dove Denmark Award bears her name; it is bestowed as Anderson's highest honor to non-alumni[58] and was established in 1976.

[59] She received a certificate of service at Anderson’s commencement in May 1961, along with her successor Elmer Francis Haight, as part of the school's fiftieth anniversary celebrations.

It was supported by a grant given by South Carolina Humanities in 2010 and showed in September 2010 at Anderson's Daniel Recital Hall,[63][64] after which it toured around the state during winter 2011.

[66] Due to her contributions to the life of the college and the city as a whole, she was sometimes referred to as "the first citizen of Anderson";[67] many letters written to her were addressed to "Dr.