466 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 45 



was rendering, recommended to the Secretary that the Institution 

 take a part in sponsoring the Board and offer immediately partial 

 financial support and office space in the Smithsonian Building. The 

 offer was promptly made with the result that the Institution joined 

 with the National Research Council, the American Council of Learned 

 Societies, and the Social Science Research Council in setting up the 

 Ethnogeographic Board with offices in the Smithsonian Main Hall. 



The six members of the Board were chosen jointly by the four spon- 

 soring institutions. They served as a policy-making body and acted 

 in an advisory capacity to the Director, who conducted the business of 

 the Board. The Director selected was Dr. William Duncan Strong, 

 who obtained leave from Columbia University to accept the wartime 

 post. Three members of the staff of the Smithsonian Bureau of 

 American Ethnology were assigned to assist the Director, and the 

 specialized knowledge of the entire Smithsonian staff was available 

 to him. Army and Navy liaison officers were in constant touch with 

 the Board. 



As a separate history and analysis of the work of the Board has 

 been written, no detailed account will be given here. It will only be 

 stated that the Board proved almost immediately to fill a vital place 

 atnOfig the Washington war agencies. Besides making available to 

 the Army and Navy the great regional file of specialists able to assist 

 in the solution of problems relating to all parts of the world, the Board 

 produced on request numerous special reports on particular regions 

 for use in planning military operations, and served as a real clearing- 

 house for "spot" information in many different fields. 



By July 1944 the most urgent needs of the armed forces for regional 

 and related information had been met, and at that time Dr. Strong 

 went hack to Columbia University to resume his duties as professor 

 of anthropology. The Board was kept in operation and continued 

 to fulfill its function on a reduced scale under the guidance of Dr. 

 Henry B. Collins, Jr., of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



WAR RESEARCH WORK 



Although the Institution has no large laboratories that could be 

 used for extensive war investigations, nevertheless its smaller labora- 

 tories and shops and the specialized knowledge of its personnel were 

 made available for whatever researches were requested by Army and 

 Navy officials. For example, the facilities and staff of the Astrophys- 

 ical Observatory, including the Division of Radiation and Organ- 

 isms, were occupied for a considerable time with research on the heat 

 radiation properties of various cloths, pigments, and other materials 

 used for war purposes, and on the deterioration of impregnated cloth, 

 cardboard, and other materials used by the Navy. A number of spe- 

 cial instruments were developed and constructed for the Navy, and 



