Archives
Provenance is a fundamental principle of archival science, referring to the individual, group, or organization that originally created or received the items in a collection, and to the items' subsequent chain of custody. According to archival theory and the principle of provenance, records of different provenance should be separated. Conversely, records which originate from a common source (or fonds) should be kept together – preferably physically, but, where that is not practicable, certainly intellectually in the way in which they are catalogued and arranged in finding aids – in accordance with what is sometimes termed the principle of archival integrity. In archival practice, proof of provenance is provided by the operation of control systems that document the history of records kept in archives, including details of amendments made to them. The authority of an archival document or set of documents of which the provenance is uncertain (because of gaps in the recorded chain of custody) will be considered to be severely compromised. The principles of archival provenance were developed in the 19th century by both French and Prussian archivists.
Provenance is also the title of the journal published by the Society of Georgia Archivists.
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