Elizabeth McGrew Kimball was born in Bareilly, India, where her mother worked as a doctor and her father as a missionary. She came to the United States at the age of five and was home-schooled by tutors and governesses until age 11. When she was 13, Kimball was taken out of school because of poor health and went to live with her grandmother. Kimball went on to graduate from Smith College in 1901. She continued living in Northampton with her husband, Everett Kimball, who joined the Smith faculty in 1904. She was involved in many of Smith College's affairs, most predominantly with the Alumnae Association. She was also the only museum assistant to be employed by the college, an accomplishment that made her family quite proud. Kimball traveled all over the world during her lifetime, to places such as France, Italy, England, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. She was an avid collector of scarves and owned pieces from all parts of the globe that dated as far back as the seventeenth century. Kimball was given the opportunity to study art in Paris with Andre Lhote, and created many works during her adult life, including watercolors, oils, pastels and drawings. She was also employed by the U. S. State Department for three and a half years, working closely with a Geological Survey. Her advanced knowledge of French, German, Italian and English made her overqualified for the job. She continued working after her husband retired from Smith in 1946 for the State Department, as part of a Water Conservation Tour in western Massachusetts. Kimball passed away at the age of 94 on January 9, 1973 in Los Angeles, California, where she had lived with her son and daughter-in-law.