Marian Silveus was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1904 and attended schools in Pittsburgh and in nearby Homestead. She earned a Bachelor of the Arts in history at Radcliffe College, a Master of the Arts in American history at the University of Wisconsin, and in 1932 a doctorate in American history at the University of Wisconsin. Silveus was librarian for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania before coming to the Milwaukee State Teachers College as a substitute teacher in 1937. She taught history at the Maryland College for Women for a short period before returning to the Milwaukee State Teachers College in 1938 to join the History Department, where she taught until her death in 1958. The college was renamed the Wisconsin State College, Milwaukee in 1951 and reorganized as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1956. Silveus was an active member of the American Association of University Professors, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Historical Association, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the World Affairs Council.
