Avery Index Timeline


1934
Avery Index founded as separate card file in Avery Library by Talbot F. Hamlin (Avery Librarian 1934-1945), in order to establish bibliographic control over the extensive collection of architectural periodical literature
1950s
Retrospective indexing of four crucial American periodicals: American Architect, Architectural Forum, Architectural Record, and Progressive Architecture (1876, 1892, 1891, and 1920, respectively)
1965
G.K. Hall published the 1st edition of the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, followed by its seven supplements
1973
2nd edition of the Index, incorporated all previous volumes
1974
1st Supplement
1976
2nd Supplement
1979
3rd Supplement: also included retrospective indexing of six magazines, some dating back to 1860. These are American Art Journal, American Art Review, Architectural Sketch Book (Boston), Builder and Woodworker (1880-1882), L'Information d'Histoire de l'Art, Metropolitan Museum Journal, and Revue de l'Art
1979
Avery Index goes online as first Special Database on RLIN
1983 Getty adopts Avery Index as an operating program and Index staff enlarged
1985 4th Supplement issued by G.K. Hall generated from online machine-readable format (covering 1979-82)
1986-1998 5th-18th Supplements published covering the years 1983-1997 (4 volumes each)
1987 Optiram converts 3rd Supplement through OCR & artificial intelligence. 11,000 records added to database
1987-1995 Avery Index available through DIALOG
1992 2nd Supplement (1975-76) selected for a test which would compare manual inputting of records in terms of time spent and cost, with the scanned OPTIRAM records. Results at the end of the month-long test demonstrated the efficiency of the manual method for small amounts of data
1992 Avery Index transitions from Special Database in RLIN to RLIN's CitaDel file of citation indexes
1994 CD-ROM released by G.K. Hall. It contained over 135,000 records dating from 1977-1992. New editions issued annually
1994 The Avery Reference File (ARF) migrated from being a special database on RLIN to being part of the Authorities file
1998 Saztec conversion test of 1,000 cards
1999-2000 NEH/Delmas Grant proposal, RFP and conversion of 150,000 cards by Duncan Systems
2000-2001 Cleanup of reconverted personal names
2000-2001 13,000 Avery Obituary records converted by Duncan Systems and added to the Avery Index online
2002-2003 Conversion of Burnham Index from Art Institute of Chicago by Duncan Systems
2003-2006 Avery Index distributed worldwide on CSA, EBSCO, NISC, and RLG
2005 500,000th record added
2006-2007 Avery Index transitions from RLG Eureka to OCLC FirstSearch
2009 The J. Paul Getty Trust returns ownership of the Avery Index to Columbia University (July 1, 2009)
10/22/13 700,000th record added