In 1908, Walter Williams established the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia, the first such school in the world. That same year a Journalism Library collection was begun. The library was created to support the research and teaching needs of the faculty and students of the School of Journalism and to serve the needs of the broader academic community. 

The development of the journalism collection was strongly influenced by the growth of the journalism profession. The School of Journalism consistently has been on the leading edge of developments in the field of journalism education, and the library has grown to support these programs with materials and services. 

Initially, in 1908, the Journalism Library received a special appropriation of $300 and a loan of "92 volumes of books and newspapers devoted to the subject of Journalism," from James West Goodwin, a newspaperman from Sedalia, Missouri. By 1920, the collection had grown and the university opened a separate branch of the library, housed within the School of Journalism. Julia Sampson, who had attended Stephens College in Columbia, had worked in the university library since 1915. In October 1920 the library had a new home located in Jay H. Neff Hall and for the first time they had a real library and reading room. Julia reported over 1,000 catalogued books, 100 magazines, 50 city newspapers, 50 foreign newspapers, and 10 foreign magazines.

In 1937, the Journalism Library occupied new quarters. The library was then located in 117 Walter Williams Hall where it still resides today. The library was formally dedicated as the Frank Lee Martin Memorial Library in 1942. 

Frank Lee Martin succeeded Walter Williams as Dean of the School of Journalism in 1935. Dean Martin came to the school from the Kansas City Star in 1909 as instructor in Journalism and remained here until his death in 1941. During his 34 years with the School of Journalism, he held positions of instructor, assistant professor, acting dean, associate dean and dean. He and Dean Walter Williams were associated with the development of the School of Journalism, and both gained international recogn ition as educators in the field. 

(Excerpts taken from the Show-Me-Libraries--March 1985 article written by former Journalism librarian , Mary Allcorn) 

Today the Journalism Library's collection is over 50,000 volumes.

In the fall of 2004 the School of Journalism was awarded a $31 million dollar grant to renovate the Sociology building and Walter Williams Hall for the new Reynolds Journalism Institute. This means that the Journalism Library will get a new library in Summer of 2008. In May of 2005 the Journalism Library moved to the basement of Neff Annex.