Born on September 3, 1891, in Thorntown, Indiana, to a Quaker family. Woody would remain in Indiana for his B.A., which he obtained from Indiana University. Later he could go on to earn his PhD in 1918 from Columbia University. Woody wrote a great deal about Quakers, formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, but later focused strongly on education. In addition to "Early Quaker Education in Pennsylvania," 1920, he also wrote "Quaker Education in the Colony and State of New Jersey" published in 1923. In 1929, he was an awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study political education on Russian citizens. Woody was interested in and researched learning processes across a variety of people and places. One of his most famous works is A History of Women's Education in the United States, published in 1929. This new edition is dedicated to the Friends Meeting in Washington D.C. and its library.