Application of the principle of provenance in library and museum science

Abstract

The principle of provenance is the foundation of the classical archive theory. Its main advantage is the existence of the additional related information arising from the objectively formed historical context of every document that is a part of an archival fund. The archive collections, in which the connections between the documents are of the logical origin, lack this significant merit. The principle of provenance in its purified form can only be applied to archives. However, in a number of cases the historical connections may be observed between the books in the libraries and the objects in museums. In particular, there are historical connections between the books in private libraries that are either kept apart in the libraries and museums (such as, for instance, the Voltaire Library), or reconstructed at the description level (e.g., the Diderot Library). Objective connections also exist between the handwritten books in the territorial collections that result from the particular archaeographic expeditions. Similar relations can be found between the objects discovered by archaeographic and ethnographic expeditions, which are kept in museums, as well as, in some cases, between the objects in the memorial museums. In this way the principle of provenance is reflected in the library and museum. The information value of the library and museum funds is directly proportional to the presence of objective historical connections between the books or objects constituting them.