Getty Research Institute African American Art History Initiative Oral Histories, 2018-2022, 2018-2022

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Summary

Title:
Getty Research Institute African American Art History Initiative Oral Histories
Dates:
2018-2022
Creators:
Getty Research Institute
Abstract:
The records comprise oral histories conducted with postwar African American artists under the auspices of the Getty Research Institute's African American Art History Initiative. Records date from 2018 to 2022 and will accrue over the duration of the Initiative. Records include digital video interviews of individual artists conducted by the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley and group interviews facilitated by the Getty Research Institute. Contracts, digital and physical transcripts, and images for select interviews are also included.
Extent:
423 GB (1302 files) and 0.88 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language:
Collection material is in English .
Preferred citation:

Getty Research Institute African American Art History Initiative Oral Histories, 2018-2022, Institutional Records and Archives, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, IA60010. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifaia60010

Background

Scope and content:

These records comprise oral history interviews conducted from 2018 to 2022 and finalized in subsequent years in conjunction with the Getty Research Institute's (GRI) African American Art History Initiative. Individual oral histories with postwar African American artists were conducted by the Oral History Center (OHC) at UC Berkeley. The subjects, chosen in consultation with the AAAHI Advisory Committee, focuses on understudied senior artists whose first-person stories are critical to the study of African American art history. Recordings also include group discussions organized and facilitated by Rebecca Peabody, the Head of GRI Research Projects and Programs. Oral histories will accrue as the OHC continues their work with additional artists over the duration of the research initiative. Materials include videos, still images, and physical and digital transcripts.

Arrangement

Materials are listed in one series of interviews. Interviews are then arranged in two categories: the individual oral histories conducted by the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and the group interviews solely conducted by the Getty Research Institute.

Biographical / historical:

The Getty Research Institute (GRI) is an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, a not-for-profit educational, cultural and philanthropic organization dedicated to the visual arts. Originally established in 1983 as the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (GCHAH), the objective of the GCHAH was to foster advanced research in art, its history, diversity, and meaning in culture by engaging scholars from various disciplines in the humanities. In 1996, in order to avoid confusion with the soon-to-open Getty Center, the GCHAH was renamed the Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities and in 2000, the program's name was shortened to the Getty Research Institute (GRI).

The GRI's mission is to "further knowledge and advance understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs." The GRI's Research Library, consisting of over one million books, periodicals, study photographs, auction catalogs and special collections of rare and unique materials, seeks to serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The GRI also spearheads research projects, exhibitions, and publication programs and provides service to a wide range of scholars worldwide through residencies, fellowships, hosted lectures and symposia, and its digital reference tools and databases.

Through the GRI's multidisciplinary programming, resources, expertise, and collaborative environment, the GRI works to advance art historical scholarship of contemporary art. In September 2018, the GRI publically launched the African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI) focusing on the postwar art and cultural legacy of artists of African American and African diasporic heritage. The AAAHI's objective is to impact the narrative of global culture by documenting the history of African American art. Through the AAAHI, the GRI will document and preserve important records; build its collection of relevant archives and related collections; support scholars; generate new research; and disseminate its results through digitization, exhibitions, publications, and public programs, all with the goal of increasing the visibility of African American art history, and promoting advanced research in a Eurocentric field. The AAAHI aims to make the archival and published record of African American art history freely accessible, both nationally and internationally, in physical and digital form.

As part of the AAAHI, the GRI established AAAHI dedicated staff positions within the Getty Scholars Program. It also created an international advisory committee of 12 scholars, museum professionals, and artists to discuss developments within the initiative and think strategically about next steps. The advisory committee's input was instrumental in helping to develop the initiative's vision, refining and executing its different components, and consensus building in regard to acquisitions, oral histories, research projects, programs, and institutional collaborations.

The oral history project component, led by Rebecca Peabody, the Head of Research Projects and Programs at the GRI, is facilitated through a partnership with the Oral History Center (OHC) at the University of California, Berkeley, which conducts individual interviews with understudied African American artists. The subjects were determined in consultation with the AAAHI Advisory Committee. The creation of oral histories, which began in 2018, will continue for the duration of the research initiative. Another set of oral histories, conducted solely by GRI staff, include group discussions with artists and art historians on various topics in the scope of African American art history.

Acquisition information:
Accessions 2020.IA.27, 2021.IA.08, and 2022.IA.50 were transferred by the Getty Research Institute.
Processing information:

Accessions 2020.IA.27 and 2021.IA.08 were processed and finding aid created by Helen Kim in 2020 and 2021. Accession 2022.IA.50 was added to the finding aid by Nancy Enneking in 2022. Lorain Wang ingested the materials into the Getty's digital repository in 2020 and 2021.

Physical / technical requirements:

Electronic files deposited in the Getty's digital repository must be viewed with a computer that has internet access. Access to digital files is available online through the link provided in the inventory.

Physical location:
Request access to the material described in this inventory through its library catalog record and click "Connect to digitized video." Click here for general library access policy. See the Administrative Information section of this finding aid for access restrictions specific to the records described below.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Helen Kim, Nancy Enneking
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-11-17 11:05:26 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The records described in accessions 2020.IA.27, 2021.IA.08, and 2022.IA.50 are available for use by qualified researchers. The following types of records are permanently closed: records containing personal information, records that compromise security or operations, legal communications, legal work product, and records related to donors. The J. Paul Getty Trust reserves the right to restrict access to any records held by the Institutional Archives.

Contact Library Rights and Reproductions at the Getty Research Institute for copyright information and permission to publish.

Preferred citation:

Getty Research Institute African American Art History Initiative Oral Histories, 2018-2022, Institutional Records and Archives, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, IA60010. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifaia60010

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