NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPIIIC BOARD BENNETT 5 



of type jobs which the committee's survey had indicated as potential 

 outlets for trained personnel. (See Appendix Bi for a sample.) 

 This file was confidential, by its very nature, but was used to furnish 

 selected lists of specialized personnel in answer to requests from many 

 Government agencies. A somewhat similar roster of Latin Americans 

 interested in anthropology was also assembled, but in this the rating 

 formula was not applied. 



Other activities of this committee were more academic, such as a 

 survey of research activities, and two reports on research needs. The 

 chief contributions to the formation of the Ethnogeographic Board 

 were the concept of area committees in anthropology, the rated per- 

 sonnel roster, the idea of service to Government, and the usefulness 

 of liaison representatives. Shortly after the formation of the com- 

 mittee its activities were eclipsed, although not entirely eliminated, by 

 the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies. 



Joint Committee on Latin American Studies 



In March 1942 the National Research Council, the American Coun- 

 cil of Learned Societies, and the Social Science Research Council 

 coordinated their Latin American interests by establishing a Joint 

 Committee. This was the first joint committee of the three Councils, 

 although the Latin Americanists had been organized since 1935 as a 

 committee of one, and later of two, of the Councils. The old committee, 

 among other things, had published the Handbook of Latin American 

 Studies, a cross-disciplinary bibliographical guide. The Joint Com- 

 mittee continued the cross-disciplinary tradition as demonstrated by 

 its first membership which represented anthropology, psychology, so- 

 ciology, history, economics, geography, language and literature, and 

 the arts. 



The Joint Committee had many of the traditional academic in- 

 terests in research, publication, tools of research, education and spe- 

 cialized personnel. However it was also given a special mandate as 

 follows : 



The Joint Committee is prepared and willing to serve as an advisory agency, 

 within its competence, to the various agencies of the Government, and to assist 

 such agencies in the promotion of inter-American intellectual and cultural rela- 

 tions and in the planning and execution of projects. 



This mandate led the committee rather deeply into certain Govern- 

 ment departments where its advice was offered seriously, although 

 not always accepted in the same spirit. 



