Since the start of Linda S. Wilson's tenure as president of Radcliffe College in 1989, research has assumed a central role at Radcliffe. Now that Radcliffe has dissolved its formal ties to undergraduates, the Institute can devote ever more resources to its research centers.

But research takes money. Even with a $100 million capital campaign launched in 1993, those involved in Radcliffe activities say they felt the pinch in recent years.

"Linda Wilson was an amazing budget manager," Brock says. "[But] Radcliffe's just never had a lot of money, so there's been this squeeze on how much we could spend."

For the Murray Research Center, which compiles data on human development, expansion has always been hindered by a shortage of hands.

" One of the things we are always in need of is people," says Annemette Sorensen, director of the Murray. "We receive a lot of data and we need people to process this data. We also need people to publicize what we have here."

According to Nicole R. Zarrett, a senior research assistant, it can take months or even years to prepare a single data set for public view.

Costs have risen for the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, too.

"Everything will get more expensive, because women's papers are gaining in value," says Jane S. Knowles, acting director of the Schlesinger. "What we would have paid for a whole collection 20 years ago, we would pay for a single item today."