no. i ethnogeographic board bennett 9 



Smithsonian War Committee 



On the last day of March 1942 the Smithsonian Institution called 

 a meeting of the staff for a discussion of the role of the Smithsonian 

 in the war effort. Out of this meeting came the Smithsonian War 

 Committee. One of its first acts was to assemble a roster which 

 recorded the world travel and the special abilities of the Smith- 

 sonian's staff. A second action started a series called "War Back- 

 ground Studies" of which 21 well-illustrated and popularly, although 

 accurately, written numbers have appeared which cover many areas 

 of the world. Official liaison was established with Army Intelligence. 

 In fact, the committee started out to do many of the things later 

 taken over by the Ethnogeographic Board. 



At one of the formative meetings of this committee a report was 

 made on the proposed Ethnographic Board of the National Research 

 Council. The Smithsonian considered the advantages of cooperating 

 with this body and decided to offer it office space as well as a salary 

 for the Director, particularly if it were Dr. Strong who had for 

 many years worked for the Bureau of American Ethnology. 

 Dr. Strong was consulted and agreed to accept provided the merger 

 could be effected. 



Conference Board of Associated Research Councils 



The Conference Board did not become a formal organization until 

 March 1944, but previous to that date informal meetings of the 

 Directors of the three Councils were held frequently to discuss prob- 

 lems of mutual interest, and to keep informed on each other's activi- 

 ties. In June 1942 the Directors, together with the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, met to discuss the financial problem of the 

 Ethnographic Board. The discussion was not so confined. 



The objection was raised to limiting such a Board to one discipline, 

 namely anthropology. If it were to be interdisciplinary, then the 

 sponsorship of all three Councils would be logical, since collectively 

 they represented the earth and biological sciences, the historical and 

 social sciences, and the humanities. There would be an advantage, 

 particularly from the point of view of the Government, in having a 

 single agency to which queries and requests for assistance could 

 be addressed. All agreed that the enlarged concept was definitely 

 superior. 



The offer of the Smithsonian Institution to provide the salary 

 of the Director, office space, and other technical assistance, made 

 the establishment of the Board an immediate reality. The Councils 



