By acts of the New York State Legislature in 1944, Cornell was authorized to establish the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The Temporary Board of Trustees mandated that the School should render three types of service, one being the provision of information "... both in response to specific inquiries from interested individuals and groups and through publications which it may initiate itself." The Board further declared, "It will be essential to develop at the earliest possible moment a comprehensive library, both of standard works and periodicals and of documentary materials."

To fulfill this mandate, Dean Irving Ives delegated the task of creating a library for the new school to J. Gormly Miller, shortly after the latter's return from the armed services. The library was established in November 1946, with its various departments spread across campus: the first reading room was housed in Warren Hall, while a sizeable number of the librarians were stationed in Myron Taylor Hall. By early 1948, fewer than half of the library's 10,000-volume collection could be fit in the space available.

Construction of a dedicated library building began in September 1959 on the site that previously housed a portion of Cornell's School of Veterinary Science. Part of a complex which also included new classrooms for ILR students, the library opened doors to its new quarters in 1962.

In 1970, the school renamed the library in honor of Martin P. Catherwood, who served as Dean of the ILR school from 1947 to 1958, in recognition of a "lifetime of public service" which also included appointments as state commerce commissioner, the industrial commissioner of New York State, and chair of the New York State Planning Board. Catherwood was also a professor of public administration at Cornell's College of Agriculture.