NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD BENNETT 85 



the Military Government Program." The Assistant Director was so 

 designated. Three weeks later, the Acting Chief of the Military Gov- 

 ernment Division called to discuss the problem of training specialized 

 personnel. Likewise, the Chairman of the Board had urged a con- 

 ference on the problem of area teaching in universities which the 

 Sponsors had turned down. In other words, the Board might have 

 had the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of the area training 

 programs, in spite of the fact that the invitations were of a generalized 

 nature. 



By spring of 1943, when some of the programs had been started, 

 the possibility of the Ethnogeographic Board's acting as a clearing- 

 house on the teaching level was first discussed. However, further con- 

 sideration was postponed until the next Board meeting in September 

 of that year. At this meeting the Director was authorized to hire an 

 assistant for this purpose. Dr. Bacon was employed, and with the col- 

 laboration of Dr. Fenton, the survey was initiated in January 1944 as 

 previously described. 



In February 1944 a mimeographed statement called "Area (and 

 Language) Notes" was distributed to the universities. This contained 

 special area bibliography, both general and specific ; sources of maps, 

 not only in publications but also those prepared by individual teachers 

 who were willing to make them available on request ; evaluations of 

 regional films, and how to obtain them ; and notes on the courses 

 being given at the different universities. Reprints of an article by 

 Mary R. Haas, "The Linguist as a Teacher of Languages," were 

 distributed simultaneously. The Notes are excellent and illustrate 

 what the service might have been. However, by February 1944 most of 

 the programs had been running for some time, and many were on 

 repeat cycles. The teachers had their own organization and their own 

 materials, and were no longer as interested as they had been at the 

 beginning. Even so the Notes were undoubtedly of enough benefit 

 to warrant their continuation. The Board had promised to issue such 

 notes "from time to time," but no more was done about them after the 

 resignation of Dr. Bacon. In all justice, Notes were no longer 

 needed since the area instruction itself collapsed shortly after the first 

 issue. 



This was a missed opportunity for greater service, attributable 

 only to the fact that the Board and the staff were caught napping. 



Research 



Although the Ethnogeographic Board by definition was not a re- 

 search organization, it was supposed to both stimulate and make re- 



