Provenance and Original Order

The archival principles of provenance and original order are adhered to at the Bentley Historical Library. Upholding these principles allow Bentley archivists to preserve invaluable context in records as well as accurately reveal information and evidence associated with the creators of the material. In addition to also shedding light on how the creator generated, managed, and actively used materials, adhering to provenance and original order may even provide a way to simply organize donated material.

As a consequence of upholding these principles, for example, the Bentley does not maintain a single "collection" for the University of Michigan's various units. Instead, each unit—from upper administrative offices such as the Board of Regents and the President's Office, through to student organizations such as the Black Student Union—has its own record group.