Culture Funds

Charles Thompson calls the Busch-Reisinger Museum one of the finest teaching museums in German art and culture outside of central Europe. Under endowed, the museum typifies many of the financial woes that are facing the University's museums, most of which have small endowments and no means of generating income. Individuals and corporations in Switzerland. Germany and Austria are being approached with the pitch that the Museum provides a window to the culture.

When Bernard Berenson died in Italy in 1960 he willed Harvard the Villa I. Tatti, just outside of Florence, Italy, which has one of the best collections of Italian art. Harvard is currently a trustee of I. Tatti, and despite a $2.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation ($1.5 million of which is a challenge grant which Harvard must match) the Italian inflation rate has galloped ahead at such a rate that the University needs a total of $4 million if it is ever to sufficiently endow the villa as a study center.