Robert G. Hart has been promoted from Assistant General Manager to General Manager of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, the Department of the Interior announced today. He succeeds J. Edward Davis, who retires after 12 years of service with the Board and 10 years as General Manager.
A native of San Francisco, California, Hart has had extensive experience in the production, promotion and marketing of arts and crafts. He first served with Indian Arts and Crafts Board in 1952 on a temporary assignment as Production Specialist at Anadarko, Oklahoma, where he organized the production and sales program for the Oklahoma Inter-tribal Crafts Association.
He served again, from 1954 to 1957, as Production Specialist stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, rendering specialized and technical production and marketing advice to Indian and Eskimo craft enterprises in the States of New Mexico, Arizona, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, the Territory of Alaska and others. He rejoined the staff in 1961 as Assistant General Manager in the Board is Washington, D. C. office.
Hart began his career as an employee of commercial banks in San Francisco and Kodiak, Alaska. Following a three-year period in the United States Army, he went to New York City where he served as Treasurer for the Westbury Music Fairs, Inc. He has worked as a consultant for the Industrial Research Advisory Council, Honolulu, Hawaii, and for the State of New York. He has also served as Manager of a Southern Highland Handicraft Guild Shop in New York City, and has worked with the State Department, the United Nations, and the Governments of Haiti and Mexico in the promotion, production, marketing and development of arts and crafts programs. Previous to joining the Board staff in 1961, he was Editor for the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of two books and has also written numerous magazine articles, pamphlets and brochures.
Davis began his career with the Board on May 1, 1950, as Arts and Crafts Specialist at the Cherokee Agency, North Carolina, and in July of that year, was appointed Executive Officer. Transferred to Washington in December 1950 as Business Manager, he was appointed the General Manager in February 1952. A native of Kentucky, Davis is a craftsman with wide experience in teaching crafts and as a craft shop owner and manager. Before joining the Federal Service, he was associated with the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild in North Carolina for several years in various administrative capacities and was named Director of the organization in 1948.
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board is an agency of the Government created by an Act of Congress in 1935 to promote the economic welfare of Indian people through development of their arts and crafts and expansion of the market for such products.
