Ruth Ellen Bains was born in Providence, Rhode Island. At 15, she graduated from Pawtucket High School and entered Pembroke College, where she studied English and became heavily involved in Sock and Buskin and the Pembroke Dramatic Society. She was elected to the Rhode Island chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and was on the Dean's list. Upon her wartime graduation, Ruth moved to Washington, where she was a code breaker for the Office of Strategic Services. She moved to New York following World War II, and there, she met her husband, famed photographer Erich Hartmann, began a family, and worked in publishing and as a freelance writer. When Bains' husband passed away, she began her extensive efforts as his archivist, continuing to show and publish his various works.