Designed by William Henry Miller, Uris Library was the first separate library building on the Cornell University campus. For some years it was Cornell's major library building, known as the University Library, and it still contains portraits of Cornell's successive presidents. When Olin Library opened in 1961 as the major graduate library, Uris became the major undergraduate library on campus.

Helmuth Carl Bernhardt, Count von Moltke was chief of staff of the Prussian army, considered the greatest military strategist of the second half of the 19th century. Andrew Dickson White heard him speak when he served as ambassador to Germany.