NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD BENNETT II 



The Board had an impressive paper backing. The myriad resources 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, the experience of the three Councils 

 plus their varied committees, the activities of the cooperating com- 

 mittees, and an active group of Board members, theoretically selected 

 for their versatility and ingenuity, were all at its command. Was 

 such an array necessary for a service job? 



The answer to this question must be in the affirmative. It will be 

 pointed out later that some of the Board's connections never got 

 beyond the paper stage, and that the Board itself failed to utilize, 

 for one reason or another, its full potential backing. Many of the 

 accomplishments of the Board could have been realized by the Smith- 

 sonian, one Council, or a simple combination of the cooperating com- 

 mittees. In fact, for the sake of discussion, it could be admitted 

 that the total work of the Board might have been performed with 

 comparable success with a less elaborate background structure. In 

 spite of all this, the total paper organization was needed at the time, 

 and would be necessary in the future, for three principal reasons. 



First, the Board needed the prestige. Government agencies are 

 hard to impress, and this appearance of a united front was effective. 

 Furthermore, the Director of the Board needed entree into offices 

 and departments of Government so that the many established con- 

 nections of the sponsoring organizations were invaluable. Both of 

 the points apply equally well to the academic societies and institutions 

 on which the Board theoretically depended for its information. The 

 Councils are the known and trusted representatives of most of these 

 organizations, and without their endorsement the Board would have 

 been under suspicion. 



Second, the Board needed financial support. The three Councils 

 jointly are an effective combination in applying for support of an 

 organization of this kind. Their unity is a convincing argument 

 that the program is needed, that it will be well supervised, and that 

 it is not competing with other projects. This would be equally true 

 whether the sources of funds were Federal or non-Federal. In the 

 case of the Ethnogeographic Board, the organizations most likely to 

 compete had been incorporated, partly in this historical development, 

 but also by the joint Council action. 



Third, and most important, is the fact that no one knows in advance 

 the direction that the activities of a Board of this kind will take. 

 The Ethnogeographic Board was given a broad mandate, summed up 

 under the term "service." The ramifications of service in this con- 

 nection are almost unlimited. The review of the actual procedures 

 shows that many of the sources of service were not utilized. How- 



