A few weeks ago, I started a new role as the 2025-26 Archives Fellow at International House. I was sorting through boxes of photographs when one made me pause. I recognized the Main Lounge. It was familiar, yet not. Just above the fireplace, and on either side of the mantelpiece, were murals I had never seen before. I saw that tall, allegorical figures once adorned the walls. Their presence was striking, but their disappearance left me wondering what happened. That single image allowed me to uncover the story behind the murals that once defined the Main Lounge. In 1925, American...

Reprint fromTHE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1924. INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OPENS DOORS TO FOREIGN STUDENTS New Building on Riverside Drive the Home of Men and Women From All Corners of the World — Its Unique Features INTERNATIONAL HOUSE will open its doors tomorrow, thus beginning a new chapter in the story of international fellowship. The gray mass of brick and stone that for months has been rearing itself on Riverside Drive opposite Grant’s Tomb is now complete, topped with twin towers. The day before registration begins at Columbia University, only a few blocks away...

When the Donald L. Cuneo Hall of History opened last October, resident Peng Guan – a cellist studying at Manhattan School of Music – took note of photo of a large group of Chinese residents pictured with Harry and Florence Edmonds on the front steps of International House in 1925.