The Institute was founded in 1931 in St. Gabriel near Vienna in Austria. In accordance with the theological discourse of that time, the first statutes encouraged the members "to share in the discovery and description of the mysterious workings of God and the restless searching of the human spirit in the history of peoples and cultures." The founding members of the Institute, in addition to Wilhelm Schmidt who became its first director, were Frs. Martin Gusinde, Wilhelm Koppers, and Paul Schebesta – acclaimed ethnographers and authorities in their respective fields of studies. Today, the Institute has 43 members worldwide.