Anna Alice Cutler was born on January 24, 1864 in New Haven, Connecticut to Evarts and Ellen L. Knight Cutler. She was a member of the Smith College class of 1885 and, upon graduating from the college, taught classics at a private school in New Haven while working on her MA from Yale. During 1892-93, Cutler headed the Philosophy department at Rockford College. In 1893, Cutler was appointed instructor of Logic at Smith College, however she left to continue her graduate study, and received a Ph.D. from Yale in 1896. In 1897, Cutler returned to the Smith faculty to teach in the English department, then the Philosophy department, where she became an instructor, associate professor, full professor, and in 1924, chair of the department.

Cutler lived in Tyler House for the first 33 years of its existence, from 1897 until her retirement in 1930. She was the first director of Juniper Lodge, and established an endowment for it. In 1952, Cutler was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the college. She used 1929-1930 as a sabbatical year, before retiring after 25 years as a professor at the college in 1930. On retiring, she spent several months in Europe, before returning to New Haven, serving on the board of the Visiting Nurse Association, as well as on committees of the American Association of University Women. She spent 2 years as president of the Smith College Club of New Haven, and was a member of various church committees. Cutler died in the summer of 1957.