Interviews with art historians, 1991-2002

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Summary

Creators:
Brown, Jean, 1911-1994, Getty Research Institute. Research Library, Buchthal, Hugo, 1909-1996, Coolidge, John, 1913-1995, Baxandall, Michael, Boardman, John, 1927-, Argan, Giulio Carlo, Barocchi, Paola, and Ackerman, James S.
Abstract:
Transcripts, audio recordings, and computer disks preserve interviews with contemporary art historians, archaeologists, bibliographers, and selected key individuals from the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Extent:
6 Linear Feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Interviews with art historians, 1991-2002, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 940109

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa940109

Background

Scope and content:

This collection of interviews with art historians includes bound transcripts and also, for those interviews conducted by the Getty Research Institute alone, audio cassette tapes of the interviews and computer disks for the transcripts. The project was begun in 1991, in collaboration with UCLA's Oral History Program, and continued by the Getty Research Institute when the collaboration ended. This was a multi-year project to document the history of the discipline of art history through the major contributors to art history and closely related fields.

The purpose of the project was to document the institutions, personalities, philosophical debates, pedagogical and field practice, the relationship of European and American scholarship, the impact of German émigré scholars, the role of women, post-World War II collecting and connoisseurship, and the professionalization of the museum field.

Interviews in the field of classical archaeology are meant to explore the contributions of foreign archaeological schools in the Mediterranean, the changing politics of national archaeological superintendencies, the synthesis of classics, anthropology and art history, the impact of the "new archaeology" and other theoretical approaches, debates surrounding collecting and dealing in ancient art, and methods of interpretation.

Interviews document the professional, and sometimes the personal, lives of art and architectural historians (including Agnes Mongan, Julius Held, Manfredo Tafuri, George Kubler, James Ackerman, Otto von Simson, Otto Wittmann, Craig Smyth, among others) archaeologists (Phyllis W. Lehmann, Lane Faison, Griselda Pollock, Colin Renfrew, among others), a bibliographer and historian of the book arts (J. M. Edelstein), and a collector of Fluxus artists' papers and works (Jean Brown). Interviews have been made with selected individuals at the J. Paul Getty Trust (J. M. Edelstein, Nancy Englander, Harold Williams). The interviews complement the archives of scholars' papers held by the Getty Research Institute, Research Library.

The repository has numbered the cassette tapes, C1-C45. Some duplicate audio cassettes came with the archive. When available, these duplicates serve as use copies. The repository has reformatted some sound cassettes, and use copies are available as indicated in the container list. Some tapes do not yet have use copies; these audio recordings are unavailable until reformatted.

Biographical / historical:

The Oral History Documentation project was begun in collaboration with the Oral History Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1991. Seventeen interviews were completed, most by interviewer and historian Richard Cándida Smith, in collaboration with UCLA. The Oral History Program owns the tapes and electronic versions and this collection includes only the transcripts of these interviews. Transcripts of those interviews jointly sponsored by the Getty and UCLA are also located at UCLA and in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley. UCLA is digitizing transcripts of the seventeen oral histories and making them available online. Connect to the digital versions.

The project has been continued by the Getty Research Institute alone, and is an on-going effort to document and contribute to the history of the discipline of art history and closely related fields, particularly archaeology. Interviews, thus far, are with art and architectural historians, archaeologists, a bibliographer and historian of the book arts, a collector of artists' papers, and leaders of art institutions, including the leadership of the Getty Trust. The GRI is digitizing these transcripts and making them available online. Connect to the digital versions.

Acquisition information:
Produced by the repository in collaboration with the Oral History Program, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processing information:

Processed by Jocelyn Gibbs and Beth Ann Guynn. This collection of interviews with art historians was developed from 1991 through 2002. Tapes, discs, and transcripts have been added to the collection from the following acquisitions: 950033, 950067, 950087, 960010, 960041, 960073, 970050, 980051. Gibbs created this finding aid in June 1998. Guynn processed additions and revised the finding aid. Jan Bender rearranged the finding aid.

The audio tapes that were reformatted by the repository have four generations: originals, archival and copy masters, and use copies. Use copies are available in the repository for researchers.

Arrangement:

Arranged in 2 series: Series I. Transcripts and sound recordings, 1991-2002; Series II. Computer disks of oral history transcripts, 1991-2002.

Physical location:
Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers with the following exceptions. Sound recordings are unavailable until reformatted. Selected transcripts and recordings have been partially redacted, as indicated in the container list. Computer discs are restricted.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Interviews with art historians, 1991-2002, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 940109

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa940109

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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