“With its endowment down nearly 30 percent since late 2007, with several of its departments planning 10 percent budget cuts and with 27 positions eliminated at its business unit in 2009, the Smithsonian Institution still sees some silver linings in the stormy economic skies.” Among them: “Visitor attendance is up compared with the first three months of last year, with 5.3 million people passing through its museums thus far in 2009.”