When International House NYC, on Riverside Drive opened its doors in September 1924 it was 15 years after my great grandfather Harry Edmonds came home to my great grandmother Florence to tell her about his encounter with a lonely Chinese student on the steps of the Library at Colombia University. Getting from the simple Sunday suppers that they hosted for graduate students from around the world to ensure they experienced a little friendship and hospitality, to the impressive building and everything it still embodies 100 years on, was a test of both their resilience and optimism. Whilst is is mainly Harry’s story that survives, I am sure from talking to family that they were both resourceful and driven by the idea of creating a purposefully designed place where students from around the world could live together and learn that we are all more similar than different.
In his memoirs’ captured by Edith Mezirow at UC Berkeley, Harry describes how the idea for International House was shaped by the success of the work that he and Florence were doing, but he did not have financial backing to make it a reality. One thing I have learnt from following in Harry’s footsteps is that he was both persuasive and very definitely persistent. In 1919 Byard Dodge and his family supported the purchase of part of the site on Riverside Drive, but that still left him with the mammoth task of finding the money to secure the rest of the site and actually build the House, which being a time of economic downturn was a challenge. Spurred on by Florence, saying there must be a way, he used celebrity influencers of the day at tea parties to try and raise the money with little success, undeterred he worked on engaging John D Rockefeller, Jr. and in 1921 Rockefeller agreed the ‘site was splendid’ and committed funding the project.
As 2024 starts and I look forward to coming together with alumni from around the world at the Centennial Celebrations in September, I have been reflecting not only on the achievement of an institution that has overcome all the hurdles that 100 years have thrown at it, but also on the fundamental principles that fuelled my great grandparents to make it a reality. They had seen, that if we can only spend enough time together and keep our hearts and ears open we can grow understanding. Harry and Rockefeller were so convinced of this that their quest continued and resulted in the I Houses at Berkeley and Chicago and Maison International in Paris, which in turn inspired all the Houses in the I-House World Wide family. I look forward to re-connecting with many of those who shared their love of their ‘home from home’ with me on my 2019 trip as we all celebrate a 100 years of ‘brotherhood prevailing’.
100,000 Grains of Sand 