J. Paul Getty Trust. Communications Department

Administrative History

The Trust's origins date to 1953, when J. Paul Getty established the J. Paul Getty Museum as a California charitable trust to house his growing art collections. Originally a small, private institution located in Mr. Getty's ranch house in Malibu, the museum moved to the newly constructed Villa in grounds adjacent to the ranch house in 1974. When most of Mr. Getty's personal estate passed to the Trust in 1982, the Trustees decided that, given the size of the endowment, it should make a greater contribution to the visual arts and humanities than the museum could alone. Out of this resolve grew an expanded commitment to the arts in the general areas of scholarship, conservation, and education. This took the shape of new programs including the Center for the History of Arts and Humanities, Art History Information Institute, Conservation Institute, and Center for Education in the Arts as well as smaller programs such as the Museum Management Institute and Program for Art on Film. In 1983 the trust's name was changed from the J. Paul Getty Museum to the J. Paul Getty Trust to reflect its broader scope, with the museum becoming an operating program of the Trust.

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