Forgotten victims of the economic downturn

A variety of educational institutions and charitable foundations are facing economic hardship, the latter because of falling donations, and both because of plummeting values of their asset holdings, whether these are properties or equities.

The biggest headlines have been made by private universities: Yale's endownment has fallen 13 percent, and Harvard's by 22 percent - just in the past few months. Of course, these institutions let their portfolios ride a fabulous bull market, which certainly mitigates these recent setbacks.

But today's news from Philadelphia points to problems at smaller institutions:

"...the venerable, research-driven University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology is seeking to reinvent itself... As an initial step, the director has laid off 18 researchers...

The 120-year-old Penn museum has a worldwide reputation for its scholarship and for supporting expeditions - from the tombs of Egypt to the temples of the Mayans to the remains of Babylon, Gordion and Troy...

At the same time, the museum canceled a 50-year-old program called the Museum Applied Science Center, which incorporated molecular analysis, biology and other disciplines to study artifacts and sites.

As president of the Archaeological Institute of America, he said, he has witnessed endowments drying up across the board. "It's happening at virtually every learned society and educational institution," he said.

Rose said he saw no options. "We're cut to the bone in publications, in exhibits, in security," he said. "If we were to lay off people in any of those areas, we couldn't keep the museum open."