Guide to the J. Paul Getty Trust Press Relations Records, 1954-2007

Series I. Press releases, 1954-1959, 1973-2006

Physical Description: 8.0 linear feet (11 boxes)

Scope and Content Note

The records comprise press releases, memoranda, notes, correspondence, ephemera, and photographs issued by the J. Paul Getty Trust and J. Paul Getty Museum from 1954-2006. The organization issued relatively few press releases until the construction of the Villa Museum in 1974, explaining the absence of press releases in this collection from 1960-1972. In 1983, the Getty officially changed its corporate name from J. Paul Getty Museum to J. Paul Getty Trust, dividing press release production between the Museum, for museum related releases, and the Trust, for all other departments. With the expansion of the Getty's operations in 1983, including the addition of the Center for the History of Arts and Humanities, Art History Information Institute, Conservation Institute, and Center for Education in the Arts, the volume of press releases increased dramatically. Press releases regarding other programs such as the Museum Management Institute, the Getty Center Building Program, and the Program for Art on Film also began to be issued arround the same time.

The press releases were intended to inform both the media and, by extension, the general public of events and activities the Getty wished to publicize. Subjects include acquisitions, public events, exhibitions, personnel appointments to significant administrative positions, collaborative projects, conferences, fellowship/scholar/conservator awards, grants, occasional matters regarding Trust administration, and others. It is not clear whether press releases issued before 1984 are complete.

Final press releases issued by the Getty have been scanned to PDF-A and processed using uncorrected optical character recognition (OCR) to enable full-text searching. The quality of the full-text searching varies, however, depending on the clarity of the original font and sometimes, it seems, the paper color of the original release. The contents of each file folder were scanned as a single PDF therefore, depending on the folder in question, a PDF may contain one or multiple press releases. Please note that only final Getty press releases were scanned; the occasional drafts, notes, memos, correspondence, photos, and press releases issued by other organizations were not scanned.

Organization

These records are organized into two subseries:

Subseries I.A. Chronological files, 1954-2006;

Subseries I.B. Program and subject files, 1974-2006;

Please note that duplication of material exists between the two subseries.

Series I.A. Chronological files, 1954-1959, 1973-2006

Physical Description: 2.8 linear feet (5 boxes)

Scope and Content Note

The records consist of press releases, remarks made at the J. Paul Getty Museum's 1954 opening, and several memos dating 1954-1959 and 1973-2006, issued by the J. Paul Getty Trust and Museum. Subjects include acquisitions, public events, exhibitions, personnel appointments to significant administrative positions, collaborative projects, conferences, fellowhip/scholar/conservator awards, grants, occasional matters regarding Trust administration, and others. It is not clear whether pre-1990s press releases are complete.

Arrangement

These records are arranged in general chronological order with a set of Museum-specific press releases at the end. Please note that there are some duplicate records in Subseries 1B.

Box 1986.IA.56-1, Folder 1

1954

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