Philander Claxton was born in 1862. He began attending the University of Tennessee in January 1880, leaving in June of 1882. At this time, he began teaching grade school in Goldsboro, North Carolina, a post he retained until 1883. At this point, he became the Superintendent of Graded Schools in Kinston, North Carolina. In 1884, he began attending Johns Hopkins University. He only remained at this institution for a year, at which point he left to study in Jena and Leipsic, Germany. Returning in 1885, he became the Superintendent of Graded Schools in Wilson, North Carolina. He returned to teaching in 1887, working in a Goldsboro grade school during the fall of 1887. After his brief tenure there, he became the Superintendent of Graded Schools in Asheville, North Carolina, a position he held until July 1893. At this time, he became a professor at the State Normal and Industrial College at Greensboro, where he remained until February of 1902.

In 1902, Claxton became the Head of the Department of Education and the Superintendent of the Summer School of the South. He remained in this position until 1911, when he left to become the Commissioner of Education of the United States. Leaving this post in 1921, he was the Provost of the University of Alabama until 1923, when he became the Superintendent of City Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There is a break in Claxton's career between July 1929 and November 1930, during which time Claxton rested and wrote. In 1930, Claxton became the President of the Austin Peay Normal School in Clarksville, Tennessee. Retiring on July 1, 1946, Claxton died on January 12, 1957.