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The Getty Research Portal: a decade of progress and developments for the future
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 February 2024
Abstract
At its inception in 2012, the Getty Research Portal shattered barriers that previously made digitized resources for art historical research challenging to locate and use without restriction. The Portal's first 10 years were marked by a period of immense growth, forging connections among collections through institutional partnerships. Flexible metadata requirements for contributing to the Portal allows large and small institutions alike to contribute a diverse range of collections but also present ongoing challenges. Work with partner institutions to identify priorities for metadata creation, cataloguing, and imaging has contributed to collection building on a global scale. Various forms of access to Portal materials have been developed alongside collection development efforts to meet new methods in art historical research. Looking to the future, the goals that were set out when the Portal was initiated continue to be the driving force behind what the Portal provides for an ever-evolving field. Ongoing work on the platform is intended to meet the shifting methodology of art historical research through the Portal's established collaborative model and open the door to new questions, new lines of inquiry, and ultimately new conclusions within art history.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of ARLIS
References
1. A record of the Future of Art Bibliography initiative is regularly updated at: https://www.getty.edu/projects/future-art-bibliography/
2. A full background of the Portal's inception and work to frame the project is detailed in: Salomon, Kathleen, “Facilitating art-historical research in the digital age: the Getty Research Portal,” Getty Research Journal No. 6 (January 2014): 137–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://doi.org/10.1086/675796.
3. The Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Heidelberg University Library, Frick Art Reference Library, Getty Research Institute, and the Institut national d'histoire de l'art, each with specific strength in digitized publications relevant to art historical research, commenced an initial phase of collection development leading to the Portal's launch.
4. Many of the roles critical to the maintenance and growth of the Getty Research Portal are outlined in the following: Tristan Bravinder, “The people behind the Getty Research Portal,” News & Stories (blog), August 6, 2018, https://www.getty.edu/news/the-people-behind-the-getty-research-portal/. While many of the people have changed, the roles remain the same.
5. A full list of contributors to the Getty Research Portal can be found at: https://portal.getty.edu/contributors
6. A current list of Virtual Collections can be found at: https://portal.getty.edu/virtualcollections
7. Annie Rana, “The Getty Research Portal grows with a new design and more digitized volumes,” News & Stories (blog), June 14, 2016, https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-research-portal-grows-new-design-100000-digitized-volumes/.
8. In 2017 the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Tokyo%20National%20Research%20Institute%20for%20Cultural%20Properties) joined the Portal through a collaborative agreement, discussed in more detail later in this paper.
9. Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts: https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Croatian%20Academy%20of%20Sciences%20and%20Arts
10. Espigas (Tarea-IIPC, UNSAM / Fundación) (https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Espigas%20(Tarea-IIPC,%20UNSAM%20~2F%20Fundaci%C3%B3n)), Pinacoteca de São Paulo (https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Pinacoteca%20de%20S%C3%A3o%20Paulo), Universidade de São Paulo, School of Architecture and Urbanism (https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Universidade%20de%20S%C3%A3o%20Paulo,%20School%20of%20Architecture%20and%20Urbanism) and Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, UNAM (https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=Instituto%20de%20Investigaciones%20Est%C3%A9ticas,%20UNAM) all joined the Getty Research Portal between 2018–2019.
11. More information on the structure and scope of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus is available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat
12. The Getty Provenance Index can be accessed at: https://piprod.getty.edu/starweb/pi/servlet.starweb?path=pi/pi.web
13. Lugt, Frits, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes publiques, intéressant l'art ou la curiosité, tableaux, dessins, estampes, miniatures, sculptures, bronzes, émaux, vitraux, tapisseries, céramiques, objets d'art, meubles, antiquités, monnaies médailles, camées, intailles, armes, instruments, curiosités naturelles, etc., par Frits Lugt. (La Haye: La Haye, M. Nijhoff, 1938–1987., 1938)Google Scholar.
14. Getty Provenance Index Research Database Editor Eric Hormell and Anne Rana worked closely to identify matching records between the two platforms and create links to the Portal from the GPI. Their efforts were outlined in the following: Eric Hormell and Anne Rana, “Cross-departmental collaboration: the Getty Provenance Index, the Getty Research Portal, and enhancing research capabilities on art auction catalogs” (Presentation, Convergence = Collaboration + Creativité, ARLIS/NA 49th Annual Conference, May 12, 2021).; Eric Hormell and Anne Rana, “Enhancing access to digitized art auction catalogs: a collaboration between the Getty Research Portal and the Getty Provenance Index” (Poster, Together/Apart, SAA Annual Meeting: ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2021, August 2, 2021).
15. The Portal's data files can be downloaded at: https://portal.getty.edu/faq and by clicking on the links provided under the section “Can the Portal's records be downloaded for reuse in other discovery systems?”
16. The Digital Cicognara Library utilizes the Portal's data download feature to systematically collect relevant digitized publications on a separate project site: https://cicognara.org; for a more in-depth discussion of the project see: Holly Hatheway, Roger Lawson, and Charlotte Oertel, “The Digital Cicognara Library: transforming a 19th century resource for the digital age,” Art Libraries Journal 45, no. 2 (April 2020): 47–54, https://doi.org/10.1017/alj.2020.2.
18. Heidelberg University Library, “Retrodigitization of art and classical studies literature for the Getty Research Portal,” https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/Englisch/wir/projekt_getty_research_portal.html.
19. The DAH has been an important resource for identifying and prioritizing publications eligible for digitization at the GRI and in partner institutions: https://arthistorians.info
20. “Free and open: the Getty Research Portal – a doorway to international collaboration within art history,” Getty Magazine, Summer 2018: 18–21, https://www.getty.edu/about/whatwedo/getty_magazine/gettymag_sum18.pdf.
21. In addition to the GRI's partnership with Tobunken, the team supporting the Portal has also begun harvesting records from Japan's National Diet Library (NDL). The NDL makes records for digitized books freely available as a downloadable file, which the Portal team is able to transform into a structure that the platform can ingest. Contributed records can be viewed at: https://portal.getty.edu/search?from=0&size=25&sort=relevance&grp_contributor=The%20National%20Diet%20Library,%20Japan. Strong holdings in Japanese language titles from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Getty Research Institute have also been digitized and made available through the Portal.
22. James Cuno, “Opening remarks” (Getty Research Portal launch and colloquium, The Getty Center, May 31, 2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPBbtniMA7I.