In 1894, she was in the first group of seven women granted doctoral degrees at Yale University, and she taught English at Smith College from 1894 to 1932.

[2] She, Mary Augusta Scott, and Laura Johnson Wylie were the first cohort of women allowed to receive PhDs in English at Yale.

[3] Her dissertation was titled "(The) Domestic, Political, and Social Life of England During the Fourteenth Century, With Especial Reference to the Vision of Piers Plowman.

"[4][5] At Yale she assisted Albert Stanburrough Cook in preparing A First Book in Old English: Grammar, Reader, Notes, and Vocabulary (1897).

[6][7] Hanscom spent her academic career at Smith College, where she joined the faculty in 1894 and taught English until her retirement in 1932.