NO. I ETHNOGEOGRAPHIC BOARD BENNETT 10$ 



its service rapid and effective. It w^ould continue to prepare those 

 immediate reports which involved its staff, local sponsors, and local 

 sources of information. Larger projects could be sent to the board for 

 farming out to the academic institutions. Furthermore, the office 

 should keep the board informed on the nature of Government needs, 

 as determined by the requests, conferences, and the like, in order to 

 guide its selection of materials and perhaps permit the anticipation 

 of needs. 



5. THE STAFF OF THE WASHINGTON OFFICE SHOULD BE SELECTED 

 FOR THE SERVICE FUNCTION 



A director and several professionally competent assistants would 

 be needed, as well as adequate clerical help. The organization of the 

 present Directorate would probably be adequate. The staff members 

 should be selected on the basis of their specific knowledge of disci- 

 plines and area and their ability to carry out the service program. 

 Whether the staff' members are loaned by some institution like the 

 Smithsonian, or hired directly, is not of major importance (except 

 in seeking grants from the Foundations), although the local affilia- 

 tion of the present staff had some advantage. In the future the staff 

 should represent various fields of knowledge and not consist entirely 

 of members of one profession. The director of the Washington office 

 should appoint such consultants, subcommittees, and other affiliates 

 as are necessary to improve the quality of the service. At all times 

 the advisory committee of the board should be available for immedi- 

 ate consultation. 



Cost 



The present Ethnogeographic Board cost about $30,000 per year, 

 largely for the activities of the Directorate. The future board would 

 probably increase that annual figure by about $20,000.00. The cost 

 would not be doubled, in spite of the assignment to the board of an 

 executive officer's salary and funds for projects and reports, because 

 many of the functions here assigned to the board were, in the present 

 situation, handled by the Directorate. The cost would be increased, 

 but the results should make this worth while. The future board, if it 

 functioned at all in the manner postulated, would come close to being 

 a true clearinghouse between the academic and the Government in an 

 emergency situation. 



