"[1] Located at 15 Rue de Grenelle, it opened on 11 October 1924 under the direction of Antonin Artaud, just four days before the publication of the first Surrealist Manifesto by André Breton.
According to art critic Sarane Alexandrian, the public at large was invited to bring to the Bureau "accounts of dreams or of coincidences, ideas on fashion or politics, or inventions, so as to contribute to the 'formation of genuine surrealist archives'.
Gérard Durozoi describes the Bureau in his book, History of the Surrealist Movement: "The bureau was [...] organized in such a way that a daily presence was assured by two people, who were responsible for greeting visitors (journalists, writers, onlookers, even students) and for taking note of their suggestions and reactions in a daily "Notebook"; the office would also guarantee a regular amount of daily publicity for the movement (press relations, various mailings), while in another room, on the first floor, other members of the group could meet for discussions, or exchange ideas and projects, or work on their own texts, or help to edit the first issue of La Révolution surréaliste."
According to Anna Balakian,[3] Andre Breton's biographer, the Bureau "was supposed to implement the theory that surrealism resembled scientific investigation and promoted experimentation in the field of psychology and linguistics.
Unfortunately, although people from various parts of Europe sought out the research center, it also attracted crackpots and became the locus of many belligerent confrontations."