Archival context, provenance, and a tool to capture archival context*

Abstract

Archival context is a crucial concept in archival science, closely related to provenance. We explore the definitions and types of archival context, the relationship between archival context and provenance, and how archival context can be modeled. Our investigation suggests that archival context encompasses three dimensions: creation context, description context, and usage context. Provenance is further enriched through multiple perspectives and networks of interacting activity systems. We propose a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT)-based model as a tool to systematically illustrate archival context and capture essential aspects of archival context. This model presents both a static view of archival context at the micro-level and a dynamic view at the macro-level using an event-centered approach.