Federico de Onís played a key role in the intellectual exchange between Spain and the United States. En 1916, he was sent to New York to take up the role of Spanish Language and Literature professor at the University of Colombia, where he carried out increasingly significant research into cultural and scientific relations between Spain and North America. In 1920, the Instituto de las Españas in the University of Colombia was created. Onís’ participation was equally important in the Departamento de Estudios Hispánicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, which he directed from 1927. The mission that JAE entrusted him with not only allowed him to continuously form connections in the interwar period, but also allowed him to efficiently organise and welcome exiled academics from 1936 onwards.
Portada del Boletín del Insitituto de las Españas, año III, número 10, enero de 1934. Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid.