the governor-general's were still held at Government House . The remainder of McCormick's time was allocated to Centennial Branch work but increasingly Heenan called on him for more work in this area. The committee met for the first time on 18 June 1937 and considered a wide-ranging list of projects: historical surveys, a national bibliography, an encyclopaedia, volumes of historical records, restoration of historic buildings, a fund for the endowment of historical research. The list was 'more imaginative and extensive than time, resources and political sensitivities in the end allowed'. 10 Most of the decisions were effectively made by the standing committee, which consisted of the Wellington members of the committee: Scholefield, Alister McIntosh (who had moved from the General Assembly Library to the Prime Minister's Department), Fred Wood and John, with Heenan in the chair. John's influence came to the fore when Wood was away on leave later in 1937. 11 The staff members, John Pascoe (a Christchurch mountaineer and photographer with historical interests, happy to escape an unpromising legal career when he was appointed in August 1937) and especially McCormick, played as active a role as the committee members in making decisions. John's position was a little ambiguous. A member of the national committee, he was also, as we have seen, a part-time adviser to Internal Affairs . At the first meeting of the standing committee, Beeby, with the example of Building America , a publication from the Columbia University Press , sold them the idea of a