[1] She graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, and the New York State Library.
[2] Harper started working as a children's librarian in 1908 at the New York's Queens Borough Public Library.
[1][2] In 1918 she was first assistant at Camp Library, Pelham Bay Naval Training Station, in New York, and in 1919 served overseas as the library organizer for the Young Men's Christian Association at Brest, France.
[1][2] Harper was for ten years engaged as Children's Librarian in the Greater New York area.
[1] She died on December 23, 1973, and is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, California.