We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest edition of Museum International, entitled ‘Provenance Research 1’.
This issue is the first of two volumes addressing the challenges faced by museums today in establishing the provenance of their collections. Many objects, collections and ancestral remains found in museums today lack a clear or full provenance: conditions that reflect the historical conditions under which they were assembled.
In this first issue, contributors were called upon to reflect on methods for reconstructing and examining the ownership, custody and contextual histories of objects, collections and ancestral remains with absent or incomplete provenance information. Such reconstruction can generate new and renewed meanings and significance for both materials and their source communities, while also engaging with the diverse ways in which provenance research itself is conceptualised.
The second issue on this topic, ‘Provenance Research 2’, will be published in the Spring of 2026.
The issue is available on the Taylor and Francis website:
ICOM members can access the full online issue free of charge through their member space on the ICOM website.
To obtain a hard copy, or if you are having trouble accessing the online version, please contact publications@icom.museum