Blog
Field notes from the world's archives.
This is where our researchers write up how a record was actually found: the dead-end emails, the reading-room credential, the script that needed transcribing. One monthly long read, plus shorter case notes in between.
Recent post
Updated monthly
Artwork Provenance Research: How to Trace a Painting's Full Ownership History
You have worked out who painted it. The harder question is where it has been. A practical guide to tracing a painting's ownership history, from the marks on the frame to auction, gallery, customs, and probate records.
Seven steps, and what to do when the trail leads to an archive you cannot reach.
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2 publishedArtwork Provenance Research: How to Trace a Painting's Full Ownership History
How to trace a painting's ownership history in seven steps, and what to do when the record you need isn't online.
S
The Source Team
Updated on : 23 Aug 2026
Updated on : 23 Aug 2026
Archive Research: The Complete Guide to Accessing Records That Aren't Online
Why most historical records were never digitised, and the four ways to access one that isn't online.
S
The Source Team
Updated on : 10 Aug 2026
Updated on : 10 Aug 2026
Case notes
How a single request was traced and retrieved, archive by archive.
Methodology
Reading Kurrent, Latin hands, and Ottoman script. The craft of retrieval.
Newly opened
Collections that just became reachable through Source researchers.
From the field
Researchers on the cities and records they know first-hand.
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