Russell Sage College was founded in Troy, New York, in 1916 by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage and named in honour of her late husband, who had left her considerable fortune. With Eliza Kellas, head of the Emma Willard School, Mrs Sage was active in the women’s suffrage movement. In founding the new college, they proposed to offer women the means of independence through the combination of a broad education in the liberal arts, with preparation for specific professional careers.
Initially, the college operated under the Emma Willard School charter, granting its first baccalaureate degree in 1918 and graduating its first class in 1920. In 1927, the New York State Board of Regents granted a separate charter for Russell Sage College and reaffirmed Emma Willard's status as a secondary school.