Message-Id: <199808111455.HAA26924@dns.ccit.arizona.edu> Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 07:53:23 -0700 From: "Christine L. Sundt" <mailto:csundt@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU> Subject: Reorganization at the Getty??? Getty Information Institute in To: mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Rumor has it that the Getty Information Institute is being dismantled. In the process of overhauling the Getty, major programs and institutes are apparently being "reorganized." The consequences of this action could be enormous for us especially if the Information Institute projects and their staffs, including but not limited to the AAT, ULAN, and TGN that have brought so many benefits to the arts, visual resources, and cultural heritage organizations in recent years are cut. From what I've heard, this seems likely.If you are as troubled by these rumors as I am, this is probably a good time to react (see below for some of my own thoughts). Maybe the best place to start a write-in campaign is with those at the top: the Getty's President and the Board of Trustees. I've found a list of names at the Getty's website (http://www.getty.edu/grant/view2.html#boa) but without contact information for the board members. With a little more searching I found some information about a few of the board members with affiliations and some addresses. Here's what I have so far.
Dr. Barry Munitz President and CEO, J. Paul Getty Trust 1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 400 Los Angeles, CA 90049-1681
THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST BOARD OF TRUSTEES Robert F. Erburu (http://www.whittier.edu/comm/rls.Erburu.html) Chairman
Barry Munitz (http://www.gii.getty.edu/newpress/newceo.html) President and Chief Executive Officer
Other members of the board: John F. Cooke (http://cavern.uark.edu/~niiac/members/cooke.html)
Ramon C. Cortines (http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/Browsing/97conf/Bios/cortines.html)
David I. Fisher
David P. Gardner (President, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 525 Middlefield Rd., Suite 200, Menlo Park, CA 94025, Tel: (415)392-1070 (from http://www.ned.org/page_4/funding/fundlist.html)
Gordon P. Getty
Vartan Gregorian (http://cgi-user.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1996-97/96-060gc.html)
Agnes Gund (http://www.govpataki4women.org/aGund.html)
Helene L. Kaplan (from http://www.carnegie.org/science_tech/reg.txt): Helene L. Kaplan, Of Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, serves as counsel or trustee of many science, arts, charitable, and educational institutions. She chairs the Board of Trustees of Barnard College and is treasurer of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Former chairman of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Corporation of New York, Mrs. Kaplan currently serves as a trustee of that foundation, as well as trustee of the American Museum of Natural History; Committee on Economic Development; Commonwealth Fund; J. Paul Getty Trust; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Institute for Advanced Study; and Mount Sinai Hospital, Medical School and Medical Center. From 1985 to 1987, she was a member of the U.S. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on South Africa; and from 1986 to 1990, she served as a member of New York Governor Cuomo's Task Force on Life and the Law, concerned with the legal and ethical implications of advances in medical technology. Mrs. Kaplan is a director of Chemical Banking Corporation and Chemical Bank, The May Department Stores Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Mobil Corporation, and NYNEX Corporation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a graduate of Barnard College and New York University Law School, and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of laws from Columbia University.)
Herbert L. Lucas, Jr.
Stuart T. Peeler
J. Patrick Whaley
Harold M. Williams (former President and CEO of the Getty)
Blenda J. Wilson (http://www.co.calstate.edu/PublicAffairs/csubio/prezbio/Wilson.html)
Ira E.Yellin (http://www.catellus.com/html/ira_e._yellin.htm)
members of the board should be aware that:
· The Information Institute is a vital element of the Getty superstructure that must be continued and even enhanced -- not dismantled, not cut.
· The work of the Information Institute has contributed greatly to the Getty's good name and reputation both nationally and internationally. At the same time the Information Institute has been an effective collaborator and facilitator in new initiatives with many positive consequences.
· The loss of the Information Institute and its effective leadership and programs/projects will be felt widely in many fields and disciplines.
· The Information Institute's tools -- the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, the Union List of Artists Names and the Thesaurus of Geographic Names -- have been an incredible contribution to the work of many in hundreds of organizations. Many of us use these daily! maybe even hourly!
· The loss of support for these and for the development of future information tools will be an enormous setback for those of us engaged in projects that involve emerging technologies in challenging though seminal projects where funding is otherwise unavailable to carry this work forward.
· At best we should be seeing increased support for the expansion of the Information Institute's tools instead of their abandonment.
I could go on… I'm sure you can think of many more reasons. Art history without the Getty (remember the Information Institute's previous name: The Art History Information Program!) is a sobering thought.
If you have any other information or ideas about this rumor or how we should react, please let us hear from you.
Christine Sundt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christine L. Sundt Visual Resources Curator Architecture & Allied Arts Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 - USA 541-346-2209 / FAX: 541-346-2205 http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/index.htm