President Bok yesterday appointed Oscar Handlin, Warren Professor of American History, as acting director of the Harvard University Press.

Handlin, a member of the Press Board of Directors, will replace current Acting Director David H. Horne, who is leaving on May 15 to become Director of the University Press of New England.

Bok has also formed a search committee to consider possible candidates for the permanent Directorship. The five members of the committee were drawn from the Press's Business Board of Directors and the Board of Syndics, its scholarly board of advisors.

Bertrand Fox, Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, a member of the search committee from the Press "Board of Directors, said yesterday that a new director would be responsible for helping to reconcile financial difficulties with the need for scholarly publications.

Handlin said yesterday that he would conserve resources in the interim and not make any new decisions.

Horne took over as acting Director in February of this year when Bok dismissed the Director, Mark S. Carroll '50.

In an attempt to recover last year's loss of $500,000, the press instituted in February a computer shipping and billing operation. It also reconsidered its policy on the publication of books with low market-value.