The opening years of the Department were marked by rapidly deployed magnetic observations on land and at sea. The cruises of the Galilee had relatively simple logistics. Keeping a vessel supplied at sea was one of the normal routines of the world, but the land expeditions required planning and support on a wide scale (Figs. 3.1 and 3.2). A residuum of that planning can be found today in the Department's library, which has an unparalleled collection of travel books from 70 to 90 years ago that were used to familiarize personnel of possible rewards and dangers. With few exceptions, the expeditions were to regions of the Earth for which the means of communication and transport had not achieved the level of which the industrialized nations were by then so proud. It was, however, at the peak of European colonization, and Bauer's legions could draw on the services of officials with whom they could converse and with whom they shared common attitudes. The speed with which he organized land expeditions all over the Earth once the Department was formed and funded astonishes one today. Where had he been able to locate so quickly the leaders for those journeys, journeys that were often barely short of explorations?

In addition to the data acquired by an expedition, the observers were required to submit field reports providing a narrative of its course.