The bronze statue was created by Herbert Adams and installed in 1911, the year the New York Public Library Main Branch building was completed.

A portion of Bryant's poem, Thanatopsis, is at the base of the monument behind the New York Public Library which was not a part of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition work.

[citation needed] Adam's sculpture of Bryant is of an authoritative, elderly man in a conventional business suit with a throw on Bryant's lap suggesting he is a sedentary man, likely to retreat to his books and papers.

The Bryant Memorial is an example of the legacy of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago which spurred the City Beautiful movement in New York.

The City Beautiful Movement, includes many of New York's grandest public buildings: the New York Public Library, the Customs House at Bowling Green, Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Station.