NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD — BENNETT 89 



not enthusiastic about jumping into a field where foundations, coun- 

 cils, administrators, and angels tread with care. A follow-up request 

 was answered by night letter: "Council executives think university 

 conference premature re postwar administration. Wish to explore 

 farther with Army and agency. Directives here not clear . . ." Ap- 

 parently the directives remained cloudy since no more was done about 

 this. It is important to note that in spite of the term "postwar" this 

 request was submitted in November 1942 and might have aided the 

 Ethnogeographic Board in assisting in the area training programs. 



12. TRAINING OF ASIATIC GEOGRAPHERS 



The Committee on Asiatic Geography, recognizing the need for 

 more trained personnel in this field, proposed a series of upgrading 

 and refresher courses. Geographers with advanced degrees would 

 take special work at Chicago, Michigan, and Syracuse on India, Japan, 

 and China. They proposed a series of scholarships for this purpose. 

 The Board left the execution in the committee's hands. 



The research promotion of the Ethnogeographic Board remained 

 in a dormant state in spite of various attempted awakenings. The 

 Board did not develop a stockpile of information reports, nor did 

 it encourage others to do this job. This neglect is recognized in 

 every Director's report together with suggestions for changing the 

 situation. Six main blocks to research promotion can be formulated 

 from the Director's statements and from an analysis of the reception 

 of the proposals outlined above. 



I. PERSONNEL LIMITATIONS 



The staff was too small and too occupied with what were considered 

 more pressing duties to undertake the organization of area sum- 

 maries or the supervision of projects. Various attempts were made to 

 increase the stafT for this purpose, but none proved successful for 

 reasons already discussed under Board Organization. The Board 

 members were not selected because of lack of other obligations, so 

 that no one of them had time to assume responsibility for research 

 promotion. Naming more Board members probably would not have 

 remedied this, although increasing the number of scholars officially 

 associated with the Board might have. Several suggestions for en- 

 larging the number of consultants were rejected. 



The use of part-time personnel was never developed by the Board, 

 although for research reports and projects this has proved success- 



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