The idea of extending the purview of the League of Nations to ‘international intellectual relations’ was first launched at the Peace Conference, where it found but little favour. The first official recognition of a movement which to some extent originated in the desperate situation of intellectual circles in the early days after the war was obtained in 1921, when the Second Assembly of the League decided to constitute an International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation—a decision which was reinforced in 1924 by the foundation, by the French Government, of an International Institute with headquarters in the Palais Royal. The lists of men and women of international repute which the League succeeded in winning for this cause include some of the greatest names of science and art: Einstein, Bergson, Madame Curie. Paul-Valery, Gilbert Murray, Galsworthy, Felix Weingartner and Bela Bartok. to mention only a few.

The central idea of intellectual co-operation is to promote, in all spheres that come within its range, co-ordination of effort and collaboration capable, not merely of saving time and facilitating information, distribution and progress, but also of encouraging the creation, gradually perhaps—but none the less surely—of an international outlook.

This programme falls naturally into two parts. The first, designed to facilitate study and research, may be described as the perfecting of an international machinery which consists largely in relations between ministries of education, ministries of fine arts, universities, students’ associations, institutes of art and history, museums, libraries and record offices.