Culture · 6 pages · 12 min

Why provenance matters to a record

Provenance ties a record to who created it and who has held it since.

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From the opening

Provenance is the origin of a record and the chain of who created it and who has had it since. That history is part of the evidence, because a document means something different inside the work that produced it than it does as a loose sheet. The opening covers creator before later owners, why files stay together, and custody after the records leave.

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Inside

Creator before later owners
Why files stay together
Custody after the records leave
Context is not prestige
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Respect des fonds as a principle of provenance
Chain of custody in the description of records

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Why provenance matters to a record

From the opening

Inside

Sources

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