The library was constructed between 1927 and 1929 at the far end of the South Quadrangle at a time of rapid growth for the university.

[3] Architect Arthur Cleveland Nash, together with William Kendall of famed firm McKim, Mead, and White, designed the neo-classical building in the Beaux-arts style.

[4] The building follows the standard plan of Carnegie libraries across the United States.

Ten days after the building opened on October 19, 1929, the stock market crashed.

Some of the gifts donated during the Depression created some of the library's most notable collections.