4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. lO/ 



fessional specialty for years — a problem which is only now being con- 

 sidered by universities. 



Since 1940 most of the war-emergency agencies have had area 

 subdivisions. The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs 

 is the only one devoted exclusively to one area, but others, like the 

 Office of Strategic Services, the Foreign Economic Administration, 

 and the Office of War Information, attempt a world-wide coverage. 

 The results of this increased area emphasis, added to the demands of 

 the armed forces, placed a real strain on the supply of area specialists 

 and made the work of the Ethnogeographic Board even more difficult 

 by removing many of its chief sources of information. 



Wartime Washington, research versus action, and area versus dis- 

 cipline are three of the broad background problems which confronted 

 the Ethnogeographic Board. The more local and immediate problems 

 are taken up in the detailed review of the actual operations of the 

 Board. 



FOUNDING OF THE BOARD 



The founding of the Ethnogeographic Board was not the result of 

 a sudden flash of inspiration in the minds of the Sponsors. Instead, 

 the idea germinated in a number of divergent sources, all of which 

 contributed to the formation of the final organization. The immediate 

 roots of the Board reach back to prewar days, and probably the intel- 

 lectual concept could be traced into the deep past. For the present 

 purpose, the history can be confined to a brief review of the eight 

 groups which made the most substantial contribution. The eight or- 

 ganizations do not form a pyramid capped by the Ethnogeographic 

 Board, nor can their contributions be aligned in a strictly chronological 

 order. Some of the eight no longer exist, others are still flourishing. 



Committee on Latin American Anthropology 



In December 1940 a group of anthropologists interested in the Latin 

 American field held a conference which resulted in establishing a com- 

 mittee of the National Research Council. Although prewar, the 

 committee's activities reflected not only the increased interest in Latin 

 America but also a desire to integrate professional research and per- 

 sonnel with Government programs. 



The committee at once began to assemble a personnel file of pro- 

 fessional anthropologists in the United States who had worked in 

 Latin America. Each individual was rated, by each committee mem- 

 ber, on linguistic ability, teaching ability, and suitability for a number 



