What is...Provenance?
Provenance is where something came from, and who created it. Archives rely on chain of custody to verify records. Chain of custody or custodial history is a listing of who was physically in possession of the records over time. City records that are transferred to the Archives directly from the office that created them offer a complete chain of custody with a clear provenance. City records that are taken home, discovered years later by family members, and then donated to the Archives are still valuable and appreciated, but they may lack a full chain of custody.
Provenance is a concept in archival theory that is interconnected with the related concepts of original order and respect des fonds.
Original order is keeping things in the sequence in which the creator organized them. This may include both the sequence of items and any additional groupings separating records. The original order may help the researcher to understand more about how the records were used by the creator. Forms of organization may include sorting letters alphabetically by sender or bills chronologically by due date.
Respect des fonds is a French term that means to keep records with the other records with which they were created. In other words, administrative and financial records from the same agency should be kept with that agency. Additionally, all administrative records from that agency should be stored together and all financial records from them as well. If they cannot be physically stored together, then they should be intellectually connected to each other.
Sometimes archivists will create artificial collections by collecting materials themselves. These collections are considered artificial because they were not assembled by the record creators. For example, the Menu Collection is an artificial collection; it does not represent the activities of any one restaurant, but it does offer information about New Orleans restaurants over time.
Click the image on the right to view the menus that have been digitized.
Learn More:
National Archives and Records Administration: Archives and Records Management Resources
Society of American Archivists: Dictionary of Archives Terminology