Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Submitted by drupalAdmin on Wed, 2009-11-18 12:15

“The AAT is a structured vocabulary of around 34,000 concepts, including 131,000 terms, descriptions, bibliographic citations, and other information relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.”

General information
Vocabulary alternative name or acronym: 

AAT

Vocabulary type: 
Thesaurus
Author or Editor: 
The Getty vocabulary databases are produced and maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program. The current manager of the Getty vocabularies is Patricia Harpring, Managing Editor. Administratively, the Vocabulary Program resides under the GRI Collection Management and Description Division (David Farneth, Head). Other GRI departments in this division are General Collection Cataloging, Special Collections Cataloging, Digital Services, the Registrar\x92s Office, Institutional Records and Archives, and Conservation and Preservation. The Vocabulary Program works with Art History Documentation (Murtha Baca, Head) to foster foreign language translations of the vocabularies, maintain national and international partnerships, and oversee licensing and marketing.
Update frequency: 
“The information is constantly updated in the Getty Vocabulary Program's production databases. The updated data is published on the Web at the beginning of each month.”
Available formats: 
XML UTF-8 and relational tables
Vocabulary URL: 

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/

Vocabulary Sample URL: 

use Search on a term to see portion of hierarchy at http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/

Was vocabulary created as a course project: 
No
Scope and Usage
Languages: 

Most fields in AAT records are written in English. However, the structure of the AAT supports multilinguality insofar as terms and scope notes may be written and flagged in multiple languages.”

Major subjects covered: 

Design elements; Color; Styles and periods; Processes and techniques; Materials

Purpose: 

“The three Getty vocabularies are intended to provide terminology and other information about the objects, artists, concepts, and places important to various disciplines that specialize in art, architecture and material culture.”

Used By: 

“The primary users of the Getty vocabularies include museums, art libraries, archives, visual resource collection catalogers, bibliographic projects concerned with art, researchers in art and art history, and the information specialists who are dealing with the needs of these users. In addition, a significant number of users of the Getty vocabularies are students or members of the general public.”

Related vocabularies: 

The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), The Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA)

Vocabulary characteristics
Type of display : 
Hierarchy
Alphabetical list
Full term records
Web linked terms
Relationship types: 
Equivalence (Primary/variant terms or Preferred/non-preferred)
Hierarchical (Broader/narrower terms)
Associative (Related terms)
Number of terms: 
131,000
Number of preferred terms: 
34,000
Terms and Conditions
Availability: 
“The Getty vocabularies are made available via the Web to support limited research and cataloging efforts only. Licensing is required for more extensive use of these tools.” Also available as part of a collection management system or other information system from one of the following vendors: Adlib Information Systems, Cuadra Associates, Gallery Systems, KE Software/KE EMu, Luna Imaging, Questor Systems, Vernon Systems, Willoughby Associates, or WebChoir.”
Licensing Options: 

“Companies and institutions interested in regular or extensive use of the Getty vocabularies should explore licensing options by sending an email to vocab@getty.edu.”At http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/download.html

Import/download instructions : 

At http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/download.html

Provider
Vocabulary provider name: 
The Getty Vocabulary Program, The J. Paul Getty Trust
Provider URL: 

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/

Provider contact details: 

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