Loretta Ortt was born December 27, 1909, the daughter of Charles H. and Maud (nee Clark) Ortt of Grand Rapids. Ortt lived her entire life in West Michigan. She attended Burton Elementary School and South High School. From 1928 to 1930 she was a student at Grand Rapids Junior College.

During the mid-1930s Ortt attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a teaching certificate. She taught in Covert, Michigan for a year and a half, and then returned to Grand Rapids to teach at Oakdale Elementary School, where she remained for thirteen and half years.

In 1949 she became principal of Hall Elementary School. Ortt held this position for eighteen years. Ortt also worked as coordinator for Instructional Media for all of Grand Rapids for seven years, and for twenty summers was on staff of Central Michigan University. Loretta Ortt retired in 1976, and died in 1993, a decade after her donation of her collection.