rue St. Legere, Geneva, Switzerland

Institute Origins, Genevea Switzerland

Europe in the mid 1920's was still emerging from the shadow of the Great War which had ended almost a decade earlier.  To confront the horrors of modern warfare, the League of Nations was established in Geneva with the hope that it could prevent such wholesale destruction and human loss from reoccuring.  An outgrowth of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, the League represented a community of nations who would work together to peacefully settle their disputes in the context of international treaties and law rather than through armed battle.  The League of Nations also attracted interest from college students at the University of Geneva who wanted to become more actively involved in international affairs, but lacked a forum in which they could freely discuss their ideas.

In Geneva during the summer of 1924, a discussion took place among a group of Anglo-Americans regarding the most effective contribution they could make to the cause of world peace.  While initial suggestions included offering a prize for the best children's textbook on the League of Nations and providing material aid for women deported in the Near East, none matched the response of Dr. Gilbert Murray, an Oxford professor.  Dr. Murray called for the development, in Geneva, of an international students' group for the intellectual, artistic, and social exchange of ideas among individuals of various national backgrounds.