Provenance Research

Postcolonial provenance research deals with the examination of the origin (provenance) of human remains and objects in the museum collection. It is an important part of our work at the Weltkulturen Museum. More specifically, the aim is to trace all previous ownership histories of a collection object as comprehensively as possible and to uncover the history of the collection holdings prior to their acquisition by the Weltkulturen Museum. Since 2022, the Weltkulturen Museum has had a position dedicated specifically to provenance research, which builds on previous work in this area.   Its current task is to examine the origins of the collection within local and global contexts, to explore the network of relationships between the museum’s founder and early staff members and the city and the wider world, and to uncover points of intersection between the histories of the objects and colonial history. 

The aim is also to provide a balanced overview that, alongside the predominantly white and male voices found in historical documents, incorporates a diverse range of perspectives from the communities of origin. This current research follows on from previous projects focusing on specific collections at the Weltkulturen Museum, such as the research for the 2018/19 exhibition ‘Collected. Bought. Stolen?’ in 2018/19 and the research on objects from the Kingdom of Benin presented in 2023. To facilitate the much-discussed return of museum objects to their communities of origin and, consequently, the exchange of knowledge and the building of relationships, museum collections must continue to be proactively, systematically and comparatively examined through provenance research. 

If you have any suggestions, questions or information regarding provenance research at the Weltkulturen Museum, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Josefine Neef
Provenance Researcher at the Weltkulturen Museum
T + 49 (0)69 212 48078