This study examines the history of international academic exchanges in the United States, with a particular focus on study abroad programs, as well as the hiring of international faculty. The research focuses on international academic exchanges' activities based at a cluster of four institutions and considers these international academic exchanges' administrations from 1765 to 1825, a period of significant transformation in American higher education. The study employs an interpretive approach in its discussion of priorities established during the implementation of exchange programs. The analysis of the characteristics of these programs includes their purposes, contexts, processes, and results. Data derived from this study was collected and analyzed to account for common trends and patterns across the institutions, as well as significantly unique features within the individual cases analyzed. At most of these institutions, study abroad and the hiring of international faculty were closely related activities. There are cases of study abroad projects, initiated by individuals or institutions, designed to complement an institution's innovation of curriculum through the hiring of international faculty. At each institution, the study considers how the interaction of study abroad and the hiring of international faculty affected the outcome of the desired curricular innovations. It should be noted that one of the institutions included in the study, the University of Virginia, had not yet developed study abroad programs for its advanced students and faculty members during the period studied. The section on UVA focuses, therefore, on how the university initiated the hiring of faculty abroad in the absence of prior personal interaction with these individuals through study abroad programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]