Getty Research Institute

The **Getty Research Institute** (**GRI**), at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". It is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust.  GRI maintains a research library, organizes exhibitions and other events, sponsors a residential scholars program, publishes books, and produces electronic databases. Located in Santa Monica, its first director (beginning in 1985) was Kurt W. Forster.  GRI's library had 30,000 volumes in 1983, but grew to 450,000 volumes by 1986.  By 1996, the Center's name had been changed to "Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities", and by 1999 it was known simply as "Getty Research Institute".

One GRI's special projects was "L.A. as Subject: The Transformative Culture of Los Angeles Communities" conducted between 1995 and 1999, whose purposes included "enhanc[ing] existing resources and develop new resources that support new research scholarship on LA and also encourag[ing] the preservation, conservation, and display of local material culture".  GRI worked with other local organizations to publish *Cultural Inheritance/L.A.: A Resource Directory of Less Visible Archives and Collections in the Los Angeles Region* in 1999. In 2000, the "L.A. as Subject" project was transferred to the University of Southern California. That school continues to update and expand an online version of the resource directory.

The Getty Information Institute (formerly the Art History Information Program, established in 1983) was dissolved in 1999 as a "result of a change of leadership at the Getty Trust". GRI absorbed "many of its functions".

In 2000, Thomas E. Crow was hired as GRI director to replace Settis who had resigned in 1999. Crow announced in October 2006 that he would be leaving for New York University.  Since November 2007 Thomas W. Gaehtgens has been GRI's director; he was previously (1985–1986) a visiting scholar with the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities. The library is at the Getty Center. It does not loan its items to be taken out of the library. However, any visitor can come to the library to use items there.

### Exhibitions and other events
GRI holds three public art shows (exhibitions) per year in its gallery which "focus primarily on the special collections of the Research Library or on work produced by artists in residence".  For example, in 2005–2006 GRI held an exhibition entitled "Julius Shulman, Modernity and the Metropolis". The exhibition traveled to the National Building Museum and to the Art Institute of Chicago.

In addition to exhibitions, GRI has lectures (open to the public), colloquia (most open to the public), workshops (by invitation only), and screenings of films and videos (open to the public).

### Residential scholars program
The GRI hires people who work at other art museums and colleges to work for a year at GRI. After the year is over, the people go back to their old jobs.  The goal is to help spread ideas between people who work for different art museums. The residential scholars program seeks to "integrate the often isolated territory of art history into the wider sphere of the humanities".  The first class of scholars arrived in 1985–1986; they had their salaries paid for and their housing provided but were under "absolutely no obligation to produce".

Each year the scholars are invited to work on projects related to an annual theme.  In 2008–2009, the theme for the Getty Center was "Networks and Boundaries" and for the Getty Villa "The Power and Function of Ancient Images". visiting scholars for one to three months, and predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows for a nine month academic year. In 2011-12, the theme is "Artistic Practice".

### Publications
GRI publishes "Series Imprints" books in the categories of "Issues and Debates", "Texts & Documents", "Introduction To" (on "cultural heritage information in electronic form"), and "ReSources" (on the library's special collections).  In addition, GRI publishes exhibition catalogs and other materials in hardcopy form.
* Bibliography of the History of Art

In 2006, GRI and the OCLC Online Computer Library Center announced that the Getty Vocabularies (Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names, and Union List of Artist Names) will be available as a Web service.

Until July 1, 2009, the Getty Information Institute and later GRI co-produced the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals with the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. On that date, GRI transferred the database back to Columbia University, which continues to maintain it.

## Senior staff
GRI's senior staff includes:
* Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Director
* Andrew Perchuk, Deputy Director
* Gail Feigenbaum, Associate Director
* David Farneth, Assistant Director
* Kathleen Salomon, Assistant Director
* Marcia Reed, Chief Curator

## Employees and budget
During the period July 2006 – June 2007, GRI had approximately 200 full-time and part-time employees. Its budget was $63.7 million.

## References
## Other websites 
* Interviews with art historians, 1991-2002 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. Transcripts, audio cassette tapes, and computer disks record interviews with contemporary art historians, archaeologists, bibliographers, and selected key individuals from the J. Paul Getty Trust.
* Steve Lanzarotta records, 1983-2001 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. These records were created and maintained by Steve Lanzarotta during his employment with the Getty Research Institute (GRI) and its predecessors, the Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities and the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (GCHAH).
* Letters and papers of British artists, 1774-1964 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. The collection, assembled by the repository, comprises 1360 items, mostly letters signed by 507 British painters, illustrators, printmakers, draughtsmen, and sculptors. The collection includes circa 40 illustrated letters, as well as sketches, press clippings, manuscripts, and reproductions of art works. Most items date from the late 19th century.
* Letters of British Architects, 1793-1921 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. The collection includes 80 letters, 3 prints and 1 seat diagram for the 1907 RIBA annual dinner. The letters were written by 34 British architects between 1793 and 1921, most of them from the second half of the 19th century.
* Letters of British art patrons, collectors, and dealers, 1821-1921 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. The collection comprises 66 letters written by 47 persons between May 1821 and June 1921. Most letters date to the 19th century, with only a few items from the first quarter of the 20th century.
* Letters of British authors, 1770-1915 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. The collection comprises 150 letters sent by 73 persons. The letters are dated from 1770 to 1915, with the bulk from the 1840s to the 1890s. Three letters are dated from 1770, 1791 and 1798, and 24 are from the first quarter of the 20th century.