A Brief History – International Houses Worldwide Inc.

The origins of the International House Worldwide movement date back to 1948, when the International House Association (IHA) comprised of the Rockefeller-funded Houses in New York, Berkeley, Chicago, and Paris was incorporated.  The IHA focused principally on bringing together the alumni of the four Rockefeller I-Houses on a regular basis. I-House New York’s alumni association dates back to November 10, 1936 and its success in drawing together its alumni became the stimulus for alumni of all I-Houses to gather in other major cities around the world regularly.  These activities continued until the early 1960s when there was less emphasis given to meeting under I-House auspices. Within Australia, “Corroborees” were held bringing together I-House residents from Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Wollongong to sustain and nourish the I-House identity down under.

In July 1961, a worldwide conference of International Houses and Centers was held at Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris and in May 1971 a second meeting was convened in Vancouver, Canada to exchange information on programs, operations, financing, and the building of new International Houses.  These conferences led to a series of meetings among and between the heads of International Houses throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1990s, the group began the practice of hosting meetings at various member International Houses around the world so that the group’s leaders could benefit from visiting one another’s facilities.  These meetings included: New York (1985, 1999, 2013) Chicago (1992), Berkeley (1995, 2015), Brisbane (1997, 2011), Wollongong (1988, 2009), Philadelphia (2001, 2010, 2018), Taipei (2003), Melbourne (2006), London (2004, 2016), Edmonton and Jasper, Canada in (2007), Sydney (2009, 2020), San Diego and Northern Arizona (2015), Washington, D.C. (2018).  New members to the association over the last decade include Goodenough College in London, (which dates back to 1930), Northern Arizona University and International House Bucharest in Romania, founded in 2010. The IHWW association actively seeks to include new member organizations from around the world that meet the membership standards and guidelines.

The association formally changed its name to International Houses Worldwide, Inc. and was incorporated on October 28, 2010.  Our legal address for the purposes of incorporation is I-House New York with the treasury function residing at I-House New York as well.

The presidents of IHWW, Inc. have been:

Denise Jorgens – Chicago (Current President)

Carla Tromans – Brisbane

Tanya Steinberg – Philadelphia

Donald Cuneo – New York

Jane Munro – Melbourne

Peter Anwyl – London

This group of International Houses, or I-Houses, shares a common mission and most were conceived through philanthropic initiatives sponsored by the Quakers, the Rockefeller and Dodge families, Rotary International, the Duke of Grafton and the Honorable Patrick Wills, and the Goodenough family.  Although there are a variety of different I-House traditions, most of them observe Sunday Suppers, the Candle-lighting ceremony, and the International House pledge to cement and celebrate the common threads of our collective history. Each I-House, however, has its own distinctive history and organizational framework.  These can be found on their websites and by reading the accounts captured in their historical summaries.

Contact: Dr Carla Tromans I-House Brisbane  ihdirector@inthouse.uq.edu.au

Note: Individual I-Houses each have their own history most of which can either be found on their websites, by reading their historical accounts captured in text or books, or by contacting the individual I-House.