By 1911 the American division of the Alliance française, an organization aimed at expanding knowledge of French culture, had many sub-chapters.
As early as 1909 the division's council had looked at ways to bring French art to popular attention.
(The two New York non-profits remerged decades later to form the French Institute Alliance Française.)
The founders intended for a wider institute to develop around the museum, including broader research and economic aspects.
[4] The museum organized a Manhattan exhibition of art decorating The Hague's Peace Palace in 1915 to raise money for French artists at the front of World War I.
One of the paintings, Paul-Albert Besnard's La Paix par l'arbitrage, which had been loaned by the French government to the museum, went missing.
[10] An exhibition of artifacts relating to Napoleon, including his penis, his death mask, hair, and some clothes, was held in 1927.