Provenance it moves from hand to hand." Another metaphor is that provenience is an artifact's "birthplace", while provenance is its "résumé", though this is imprecise (many artifacts originated as trade goods created in one region but were used and finally deposited in another). Aside from scientific precision, a need for the distinction in these fields has been described thus: In this context, the "provenance" can occasionally be the detailed history of where an object has been since its creation, as in art history contexts – not just since its modern finding. In some cases, such as where there is an inscription
Provenance archivists Samuel Muller, J. A. Feith, and R. Fruin, published in the Netherlands in 1898 (often referred to as the "Dutch Manual"). Seamus Ross has argued a case for adapting established principles and theories of archival provenance to the field of modern digital preservation and curation. "Provenance" is also the title of the journal published by the Society of Georgia Archivists. In the case of books, the study of provenance refers to the study of the ownership of individual copies of books. It is usually extended to include study of the circumstances in which individual copies of books have changed