This collection comprises twenty-nine enclosures of varying size and design which originally housed objects from the J. Paul Getty Museum's Department of Manuscripts at the time of acquisition. Twenty-two enclosures contained objects from the Ludwig Catalogue, purchased in 1983, while seven housed manuscripts acquired after the Ludwig accession from 1984 to 2005. The enclosures held by Institutional Archives represent those housings that were originally received by the Department of Manuscripts upon acquisition and were replaced by new housings for conservation reasons. They feature original bindings, inscriptions, and bookplates, and have been retained for study purposes.

The J. Paul Getty Museum was established as a charitable trust in 1953 by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in order to house his growing art collections, with his original Museum opening in 1954. Upon Getty's death in 1976 he bequeathed almost his entire estate to the Museum with a mission to promote "the diffusion of artistic and general knowledge." Today the J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic organization serving both general audiences and specialized professionals. The Trust is a not-for-profit institution, educational in purpose and character, that focuses on the visual arts in all of their dimensions. As of 2017 the Trust supports and oversees four programs: the Getty Foundation, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Museum serves a wide variety of audiences through its expanded range of exhibitions and programming in the visual arts from two locations in the Los Angeles area: the Getty Villa near Malibu and the Getty Center in Brentwood.

35.74 Linear Feet (25 boxes)

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

The material in accession 2017.IA.37 is open for use by qualified researchers.