Provenance is the history of the ownership of an object at any
particular time. Ideally, a complete provenance history includes
who owned an art object from its creation to the present,
including every transfer of ownership, sale, and location.
Provenance research can reconstitute collections that have been
dispersed over time. It is particularly important for the years
1933 to 1945, which saw the systematic confiscation and forced
sales of art owned by Jewish families in continental Europe. The
Frick Art Reference Library's rich collections of monographs,
catalogues raisonnés, and exhibition and auction catalogs, and
its Photoarchive of more than 1.2 million images with supporting
documentation, make it an essential resource for provenance
research. In addition to the Library's collections, provenance
research is supported by the research tools it has created. The
documentation typically includes date, engravings, other
reproductions, exhibition history, collection history,
description, bibliography, and not