After graduating in 1890 from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New York, Rittenhouse taught school in Cairo, Illinois and Grand Haven, Michigan.

[3] On March 20, 1924, Rittenhouse married fellow poet Clinton Scollard in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

[4][5] In the course of her career, Rittenhouse corresponded with numerous contemporary poets, such as John Myers O'Hara,[6] Margaret Widdemer, and Arthur Guiterman.

Her poems were set to music by many composers, including Samuel Barber, Noble Cain, Alice Reber Fish, Ethel Glenn Hier, Kirke Mechem, Frederick W. Vanderpool, Wintter Watts, and especially David Wendel Guion.

[7] Late in her career, Rittenhouse moved to Winter Park, Florida, and became associated with Rollins College, where she was a lecturer in poetry.