Ramsden was the oldest of three children born to Edward Maxwell Ramsden, a Melbourne-born medical student, and his wife Edith Johnson, née Hindley who came from England. The family lived in Richmond, Melbourne, and later Adaminaby and Bathurst, New South Wales. Ramsden boarded at Ascham School and enrolled in Arts at the University of Sydney in 1924 but moved to Melbourne with her mother and youngest brother in 1925. She received a B.A. degree from the University of Melbourne in 1928. Ramsden took employment in the University's libraries and the bookroom of Melbourne University Press until appointed assistant-reader in 1941. She applied unsuccessfully for the position of manager in April 1943 but lost out to the historian, Gwyn James. Ramsden continued as senior editor under his successor, Peter Ryan.
Moye (2002) comments:'Ramsden's legacy was seen in the growth of M.U.P., the generation of editors whom she trained, and the meticulous editing that produced such books as Geoffrey Blainey (q.v.)'s The Peaks of Lyell (1954), Margaret Kiddle (q.v.)'s Men of Yesterday (1961), the early volumes of Manning Clark (q.v.)'s A History of Australia (1962, 1968) and of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1966 and 1967, edited by Douglas Pike (q.v.)), and the Encyclopaedia of Papua and New Guinea (1972, edited by Peter Ryan (q.v.)).' Ramsden retired in 1967 and received the University's medal for exceptional services. After her retirement she continued to work as a freelance editor at MUP and Thomas Nelson until her death. As Moye observed, 'A formidable editor, both in expertise and in manner, she provided "much of the stability and the authority in scholarship" which M.U.P. enjoyed.'
(Source: Adapted from Ros Moye, 'Ramsden, Barbara Mary (1903 - 1971)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, MUP, 2002, pp 55-56)
