When you open a box and find various records, such as meeting notes, invoices, photos, letters and reports, it might be tempting to organize them by topic or date. Instead, the first question usually asked by archivists is “Who created these records, and what was the context in which they were created?” This leads us to our topic of discussion: provenance. In the field of archives, provenance refers to maintaining the relationship between records and the individual, family, organization, office, or entity that created or collected them.
This relationship is important because an archival record doesn’t necessarily tell the entire story on its own. A letter that seems too brief to matter on its own will gain significance if it’s found in a file created by a specific agency or among other relevant letters. Identifying the creator helps us understand why a particular record was created, how it relates to others in a collection, and how it should be organized within a fonds, collection, series, or file. Provenance thus assists archivists in arranging and describing records without imposing their own interpretations.
To practice identifying provenance, assemble a mock collection of records from two different creators. The creators might be two separate individuals, departments, agencies, etc. Provide each with several items, like letters, reports, forms, and photos. Combine these records into one set, and review the records without first organizing them. Note any clues that help identify the creator(s). Look at letterheads, signatures, names, dates, and folder titles or other reference numbers, as well as the type of record itself. Try to group the records based on who created them rather than by type of record, so as not to place all the photos together or all the reports together. Record the clues that led to your choices. You can use a separate sheet of paper to track these choices. The goal is to have clear documentation that shows how you arrived at your conclusions rather than just leaving a collection unsorted.
Provenance also helps inform the principle of original order. Let’s say you receive a set of administrative files in folders that are already arranged in some logical manner. Reorganizing them alphabetically by subject would give the appearance of a more orderly set of records. However, this reorganization could eliminate valuable information regarding how a particular record creator used the records before their arrival. To retain the original order, you must document what is currently in the set. Take note of folder titles, reference numbers, date ranges, and neighboring records. All of this could provide additional context about how the records relate to each other, which can be difficult to determine after reorganizing. Just because records are physically disorganized does not mean that the intellectual ordering of records is equally chaotic, so observe records before rearranging them.
There will inevitably be times when you don’t know who created a particular record. It may lack a signature, a date, or some other piece of information. It may be tempting to assume that you know who created the record in order to add it to the collection and fill in the blanks. While doing so makes the collection appear to be more complete, it also reduces the accuracy of the collection. An archival inventory should accurately distinguish between known and unknown information. Investigate other records, series, finding aids, or metadata to help you establish the identity of a record creator. If the identity of a record creator cannot be determined, record that fact rather than assigning the record to a certain set based on an assumption. It is more helpful to have a reliable and descriptive inventory than to have records assigned to incorrect groups based on speculation.
To see if provenance has been maintained in your collection, ask yourself: if someone were to use my inventory to locate records, would they be able to tell what the creator of a set of records is? Would they be able to tell why a number of records belong together? Would they be able to locate a record in relation to other records based on the file and series it belongs to, or does the record stand alone? If you can answer yes to these questions, you’re ensuring that your archival records are being organized with consideration for their meaning beyond just being placed in a box.
