Farrand held various positions at a number of institutions of higher learning, including Wesleyan University, Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, Cornell University, and Yale. Max Farrand was the first Director of the Huntington Library, after the death of philanthropist Henry E. Huntington, which is located on the historic 'Rancho Huerta de Cuati' in San Marino near Pasadena, California. Later he served as President of the American Historical Society.
Professor Farrand made contributions to historical publications, and he wrote:
- Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States, 1789-1895 (1896)
- Translation of Jellinek's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens (Translation from German to English) (1901)
- Records of Federal Convention of 1787 (three volumes, 1911)
- The Framing of the Constitution of the United States (1913)
- Development of the United States {1918)
- The Fathers of the Constitution (1921)
- The Founders Of The Union (1926)