Formed in 1927 under the initiative of Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and other academic linguists, the Committee on Native American Languages of the American Council of Learned Societies was charged with documenting the endangered languages of indigenous Americans. Wielding grants to encourage research, the Committee was chaired by Boas and staffed by Manuel J. Andrade, Jaime de Angulo, Roland B. Dixon, Pliny E. Goddard, Bernard Haile, John P. Harrington, Harry Hoijer, Melville Jacobs, Diamond Jenness, Alfred V. Kidder, Alfred L. Kroeber, Truman Michelson, Frans M. Olbrechts, Gladys A. Reichard, Frank G. Speck, Edgar H. Sturtevant, Morris Swadesh, and John R. Swanton, among others.