3.0

Average Course Rating

Every object has a story and a history, and the study of objects and their contexts form the basis for provenance research. This course will expose students to the historical context of collecting around the world and will explore the various roles that provenance research plays in museums today, including within the realms of collections management, acquisitions, visitor engagement, publications, legal issues, and more. We will consider not only what provenance research is, but how it can be used as a valuable method for understanding the biography of an object, including its provenience, acquisition, and movement through time and space through a series of events and transactions. By focusing on specific areas of various fields of study, we will examine the overlapping but often distinct ways that provenance research can be utilized and what it can reveal. Through hands-on activities and representative case studies, students will undertake their own provenance research in order to understand the process and methodologies of a discipline that often encompasses many facets of inquiry and avenues of investigation.