NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD BENNETT 35 



3. PERSONNEL INEOKMATION 



The Board's roster served as one source for employable personnel, 

 particularly when cross-checked by one of the cooperating committees 

 or Sponsors. Samples of such requests are : a man to write the Sol- 

 dier's Handbook on Eritrea ; a man to check a military phrase book 

 in "Pidgin English" ; a good cultural-relations officer for the Carib- 

 bean area. The Board was able to furnish the names of several in- 

 dividuals who spoke a specific Oceanic dialect, in spite of the fact 

 that other informed sources had claimed that no such people were 

 available. The Army, Navy, and other Government agencies used 

 the roster to obtain names of prospective officers or employees with 

 foreign experience. Some use was also made of the roster by uni- 

 versities seeking special teaching personnel for their foreign area 

 and language courses. 



4. FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEWS 



At several Board meetings the possibility of interviewing people 

 with extensive area travel or residence was discussed, but never tried 

 out. However, this was done by some agencies such as the Office of 

 War Information, the Army and the Navy. It is costly and difficult 

 to interview a group of people scattered all over the United States. 

 In order to simplify the procedure, the Navy, in 1944, asked for a spe- 

 cial list of area experts arranged according to United States subregions 

 represented by Naval District Offices. The Board selected 550 im- 

 portant card entries, made two photostats of each, and classified these 

 by States and institutions. One set of photostats was for the Navy's 

 central file, the other for the District Officers'. 



5. CIRCULARIZING 



At first the military departments handled all follow-up requests 

 for photographs and information, but later the Board was entrusted 

 with a good proportion of this work. The Army or the Navy desig- 

 nated the specific area, such as the Balkans, Japan, or a Pacific Island 

 group, and the type of information desired. The Board then selected 

 a long list of potential names from its roster and sent the request to 

 each individual. An accompanying letter gave details about the type 

 of information, photographs, and maps which were needed. (See Ap- 

 pendix C for samples.) If Army and Navy requests differed, this 

 was explained. In order to avoid duplication the letter asked for the 

 name of any other war agency which had solicited the same informa- 



