Brainerd Kellogg was born in Champlain, New York. He was a Tutor (1860–1861) and Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature (1861–1868) at Middlebury College in Vermont, United States. From 1868 to 1907 he was professor at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He published a number of influential education books, some of which are available on Project Gutenberg, and a variety of textbooks on English writing and literature, including a series on the works of William Shakespeare.