His Congregationalist family made him attend Williams College due to its conservative orthodox religious values, though Scudder became more interested in studying literature rather than religion.

[3] After his graduation in 1858, he taught school in New York City, and subsequently, returned to Boston and devoted himself to literary work.

He published the Bodley Books (1875–87) and was also an essayist, and produced large quantities of journalism that was printed anonymously.

[2] Scudder may have been most famous for his 1884 work A History of the United States of America Preceded By a Narrative of the Discovery and Settlement of North America and of the Events Which Led to the Independence of the Thirteen English Colonies for the Use of Schools and Academies, which long set the standard for American history textbooks.

Only a couple months into his role as editor, on August 28, 1890, Scudder received from William Dean Howells a submission written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.