She graduated summa cum laude in 1948, moving on to obtain a Master of Arts in history from Radcliffe College in 1950.

That same year, she worked at Harvard University as a grader for Perry Miler in the American literature department, where she met fellow student William Hedges.

[3] Towson developed an interdisciplinary program to transform the curricula of 13 disciplines to incorporate education on women and worked with Sara Coulter to promote a similar model in five of Maryland's area community colleges.

[4] Directing the program for nearly 20 years, Hedges fostered a nationwide program to initiate women's studies in universities and colleges[5] and shared her expertise abroad in Beijing, China, as a visiting professor at the Freie Universitat in Berlin, Germany,[3] and at conferences in Toronto, Canada.

The anthology looked at the relationship between domestic work and artistry, a theme which she pursued for 20 years, publishing several articles in Quilt Journal.