Intellectual cooperation and cultural diplomacy are generally addressed by historians of international relations and by scholars working in global history. This contribution approaches them from a cultural but socially oriented perspective. Carbó-Catalan examines the history of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) with a focus on the translation activities it promoted and the functions the latter fulfilled in society. To this end, she first presents the main activities that configured the IIIC’s translation policy. Then she delves into the political dimensions of intellectual cooperation, many of which shaped the translation projects developed by this institution in turn. Finally, she focuses on a specific translation project, namely, the Ibero-American Collection. Its editorial history is reconstructed to show the ways this collection fulfilled functions that surpassed its foundational purpose, including unplanned functions related to Latin American regional cooperation and to the promotion of a Latin American regional identity.