Katherine Binney Shippen was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1942, she earned her first degree from Bryn Mawr, and in1929 she received her master's degree from Columbia University. From 1920 to 1945 she was a history teacher in New York and New Jersey. In 1945 she became curator of the social studies department of the Brooklyn Children's Museum. In the same year, she published her first book, New Found World (1945). In 1956 she was awarded the Newbery Honor for her book Men, Microscopes, and Living Things.