Crosby graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1922, and subsequently became involved in archaeology and ancient history, especially epigraphy and metrology, earning her PhD at Yale University.
[3] Unlike the male archaeologists at Dura-Europos, Crosby did not receive a salary and had to pay her own travel expenses.
[5] Crosby joined the Greek Desk of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the Second World War.
[7] After leaving the OSS at the end of the war, Crosby returned to supervise fieldwork at the Athenian Agora from 1946 to 1945.
[5] Crosby retired in 1962 and lived in Barnard, Vermont with her life partner, the child psychologist Ruth Wendell Washburn.