And on Washington's Birthday the group will open a tourist information booth in the State House.

Work like this is useful, but de- liberately "marginal" in importance so that it probably would not get done without volunteer help. It is the kind of work that people without special training can do.

Most of all it teaches something to its participants. Volunteers for the tourist information center are urged to take at least one course in Massachusetts history, literature, or natural history each year from the Department of Education's Extension Service which has agreed to provide the instruction without charge. To train volunteers working on pollution problems, it organized a special course in City Conservation.

Hundreds Are Lost

It might be argued that such programs are so much "busy-work," supplying an artificial goal to people who don't have one. Putnam and the volunteers working in the Center's office deny this. "After all, two hours' work a week is hardly a large demand," he says, "certainly not enough to rehabilitate the confused. There are hundreds of people who are really lost. These people need some kind of professional handling--I can't do it."

Nor does he think that the Center is pushing people into his own personal projects. "John Putnam is the genius of nothing," says John Putnam. "I'm not a program driver; I'm just a catalyst," bringing together people with similar interests who can help each other.

In fact, if people felt that they were being manipulated it would destroy the whole worth of the program. "You have to be careful not to lower their self-esteem," he cautions. "All you can give is a kind of avocational counselling."

The Center now has about 125 volunteers on its mailing list and is planning an expansion of its programs. It wants to study the parks in the Boston area to see how they are used and how they might be improved. It plans an inventory of public art work in Greater Boston, and a survey of historic buildings. If its guide service in the State House proves successful, it would like to add an international welcoming office at Logan Airport.

These are all valuable services, but obviously none will solve Boston's problems. As Putnam puts it, that doesn't matter very much, for the Civic Center is oriented toward people rather than causes.