Background
From the earliest days of Cornell’s existence, its two founders, Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell, had both wanted a dedicated library building to safely house the important scholarly collections of books they had acquired for the University. Ezra Cornell had already funded a public library for the town of Ithaca, and White wanted the University’s library to be a shining architectural prototype for the modern academic research library. He had also decided to donate his personal collection of 30,000 books to the University, and it was widely regarded as one of the best book collections in the country. The trustees earmarked funds from the Jennie McGraw Fiske estate for the purpose, but a protracted battle over the legality of her will, known in Cornell lore as the “Great Will Case,” had barred Cornell’s access to the funds. After the U. S. Supreme Court had decided against the University in the case, Trustee Henry Williams Sage agreed to foot the bill. Sage contributed $260,000 for construction and another $300,000 to endow the collection, then numbering 100,000 volumes.
In 1887, the trustees appointed a building committee, which initiated a competitive bidding process. They selected local architect William Henry Miller (1848–1922) to design the new library. He had already built nearby Barnes Hall, and was a special figure in Cornell's architectural history. Miller had come to Cornell with the first class of students in the fall of 1868, and is generally thought to have been the University’s first student of architecture when the School of Architecture was founded in 1871. Although he probably never graduated, Miller went on to a very successful career, and was commissioned to design some of the most significant buildings on campus during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the A. D. White House, Risley Hall, Stimson Hall, Boardman Hall (demolished in 1952), and of course, his finest achievement, Uris Library and McGraw Tower.
Miller's designs were enthusiastically embraced by members of the building committee, as well as by George W. Harris, the acting (soon-to-be permanent) University Librarian.
The architect has worked in harmony with the librarian; and an inspection of the accompanying plan of the ground floor will show how fully all the great requirements of a library, such as compact storage of books within easy access of the delivery desk, economy of administration, abundance of light and ventilation, accommodation for special students, and the comfort of general readers, have been recognized and provided for.
Well before construction on the building was complete, detailed accounts of the vision for the structure and preliminary plans appeared in the national news, generating interest in the structure from scholars, librarians, architects, among others.