524 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



in the Old World, as well as on the relationship of present-day peo- 

 ples, would be lost. 



In view of that situation an exploratory meeting of members of the 

 Committee on Basic Needs in American Archeology of the National 

 Research Council and archeologists stationed in Wasliington, D.C., 

 was held at the National Research Council in January 1945. Various 

 plans were suggested at that time for starting a program for the sal- 

 vage of materials from areas which would be inundated or otherwise 

 disturbed by construction activities, but no definite action was taken. 

 As an outgrowth of the discussions, however, an independent commit- 

 tee, the Committee for the Recovery of Archeological Remains, con- 

 sisting of representatives from the American Anthropological Asso- 

 ciation, The Society for American Archaeology, and the American 

 Council of Learned Societies, was organized in April of the same year 

 and began a careful study of the problem. During the same period 

 members of the staff of the Smithsonian Institution were preparing a 

 tentative program and discussing the situation with representatives 

 of various agencies engaged in the development of river basin proj- 

 ects. Concurrently the National Park Service, the Bureau of Recla- 

 mation, and the Corps of Engineers completed agreements providing 

 for the study of recreational resources of proposed reservoir areas. 

 The oriodnal agreements made no mention of archeological and his- 

 torical remains, but in May of that year the National Park Service 

 indicated that studies of such manifestations would be included in the 

 overall program and that preliminary preparations were being made 

 to that end. 



In the late spring of 1945 the Smithsonian Institution and the Na- 

 tional Park Service, through the work of the Committee for the 

 Recovery of Archeological Remains and through informal discussions 

 between the Director of the National Park Service and the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, became aware of the common goal 

 toward which both were striving. A series of conferences followed 

 which made clear the fact that the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 National Park Service were ready to cooperate fully in any major pro- 

 gram for the survey and recovery of arclieological remains and that the 

 Smithsonian Institution was willing and prepared to take scientific 

 responsibility for the actual work in the field. Shortly thereafter it 

 was recognized that paleontological materials would also be involved 

 and they were included. During the summer months a memorandum 

 of understanding between the two agencies was drawn up providing 

 in part that the National Park Service would call to the attention of 

 the Smithsonian Institution the locations of all the proposed dams 

 and reservoirs and that the Institution would advise the National 

 Park Service as to the number and importance of the archeological or 



