One of the challenges (and joys) of locating archival sources is that they are often one of a kind and exist at one institution. Sometimes, a researcher may not know if a piece of evidence even exists until they happen upon it in an archives reading room. In order to focus one's search, it is helpful to understand a couple basic principles used by archivist to organize materials.
This page provides a summary of the concepts of Provenance and a Records Creator, while the page titled "Finding Archival Collections" describes how these ideas can be applied to searching, as well as a few tools that might be helpful in locating collections.
What is provenance?
Provenance describes where an archival collection or record comes from. For archivists, provenance is central to how they manage, organize, and present materials to the public. A provenance-based perspective differs from a subject-based perspective in that it privileges questions concerning who created a source document and where it came from rather than what the source document is actually about.
Why does provenance matter when researching history?
Provenance is important for a couple of reasons. When searching for primary sources, knowing how archivists apply the concept to collections will help locate relevant collections. For example, if you were studying the termination of American Indian reservations, it would be a good idea to search for the political papers of individuals important to that history like Arthur Watkins (pro-termination) and Ada Deer (pro-sovereignty).
Provenance is also important for interpreting primary sources. Knowing who created a document can help one better understand the insights, biases, and limitations reflected in the document. Understanding who gathered a collection of sources can provide clues on what documents and perspectives might be missing from that collection. For example, a collection of newspaper articles by a company gathered in a public relations file is likely to be generally positive with the exception of negatives stories for which that company might be forced to provide public response. Understanding who gathered a collection of documents and why can help provide clues about what other perspectives one might want to seek out.
The person, family, or organization that created a record or collection. Instead of identifying an "author" for a collection, archivists identify "creators" with the understanding that a collection is likely to contain materials from several different authors. In terms of archival collections, the creator is the person who created the collection. When searching for archival collections in the United States, the name of the creator usually begins the title of the collection. For example, the Warren Magnuson Papers is a collection of materials gathered by Senator Magnuson.