She studied art in New York, Munich, and Holland, and painted portraits of family, friends, and other Bostonians of her social standing.

[2] She studied with Helen M. Knowlton, Louisa Crowninshield Bacon, and George Chickering Munzig before enrolling in the first class of students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1877.

[6] Sarah Gooll Putnam kept a consistent collection of diaries beginning at age nine (November 26, 1860).

[7] The documents are a record of her career as a portrait painter, her extensive travels, and significant historic moments.

Though primarily living in Boston, Massachusetts, she recorded the shock and sadness of hearing about the Lincoln assassination.