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16

are being taken to develop a competent staff to foresee and forestall the administrative problems that might develop. Any contract that we might sign will have a system of checks and approvals to insure that we have control throughout the production of the rough cuts and final versions of the films being produced.

We foresee problems in asking scientists and scholars to cooperate with film makers, but the problem is not new, as television shows concerning the Smithsonian are constantly being filmed on and off the Mall. In addition, Wolper has agreed to employ as consultants, on their own time, those scientists and curators on whom he will make demands above and beyond their daily duties.

17. [[underlined]]Question: What is lacking in the television image of Smithsonian resources and activities?[[/underlined]]

[[underlined]] Answer: [[/underlined]] Smithsonian museum and research staff members are seen frequently on national television, mainly in news or discussion programs. But there is no continuing, coordinated, overall program identified with the Institution as a whole on television and we believe that, under the proper supervision, the Smithsonian offers a virtual intellectual storehouse for a high-quality, interesting and educative television series. Even without the proposed contract, the Smithsonian would be on television but without any Institutional identity. In February, for example, the National Geographic Society's prime-time television series on commercial television will feature the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Short-Lived Phenomena at Cambridge, Mass., in a program to be titled "The Violent Earth." This program was produced during the period in which the Institution has been examining which route to take in television. It also should be noted that the Center for Short-Lived