Chicago's Field Museum is a big name institution probably best known for it's full T-Rex skeleton that became a symbol of the institution. Facing problems with a high debt load and reduced government investment, the museum is announcing a round of budget cuts. That change has many worried that the museum's unique, not to mention important, role in archeology is at risk.
Quoted in an article on Boing Boing, Michael Smith cites The Field Museum in helping expand our knowledge of pre-Columbian music through their extensive collection of Aztec instruments. "Museums are the only places with the resources for such research, and the Field Museum is one of the most important in the U.S. and the world." According to an article on the Chicago Tribune, the museum's President is reducing the Museum's research staff and looking to better exploit their available artifacts. The former is the bigger cause of concern, but the latter may make some of these artifacts less available for research purposes.
A cursory Google search for “museum financial problems” yields quite a few results, and The Field Museum doesn't even come up at the top. Though often people think of these institutions as little more than a source of family fun or class field trips, Museums play an important role in science and it is clear that role is in danger.
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