She was chief research archivist at Yale University and historian for the city of New Haven, Connecticut.
[1][2][3] Schiff was born in New York City, but grew up in New Haven, where she attended Hillhouse High School.
[4] She earned a degree in history from Barnard College, and returned to work at the Cowles Foundation at Yale.
[1] Schiff also helped determine that a skeleton exposed by a tree uprooted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 dated to the 18th century.
[1] Schiff won the Edward Bouchet Legacy Award for her research, the Linda Lorimarr Award for Distinguished Service, and the Yale Medal from the Yale Alumni Association.