About Your Search Results

CONTENTS

1. What objects are included?
2. Does the Portal include all such objects in U.S. museums?
3. Does the Portal include Judaica?
4. What information does the Portal provide about objects?
5. My search returned no results. Does that mean my object is not in a U.S. Museum collection?
6. Does the Portal include information about objects in sales galleries, auction houses, or private collections?
7. Does the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal, the American Alliance of Museums, or the organizations funding the Portal vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the information about objects the Portal provides?

1. What objects are included?

The Portal contains information only about objects that:

• were created before 1946 and acquired after 1932,
• underwent a change of ownership between 1932 and 1946, and
• were or might reasonably be thought to have been in continental Europe between those dates.

In the event that a museum is unable to determine whether an object created before 1946 and acquired after 1932 (a) might have been in continental Europe between 1932 and 1946 and/or (b) underwent a change of ownership during that period, it should still be included.

2. Does the Portal include all such objects in U.S. museums?

Not at first. Due to the wide potential range of qualifying objects and the necessity to begin listing objects as quickly as possible, the Portal will focus first on European paintings, followed by sculpture, drawings, numbered prints, and other uniquely identifiable objects as resources allow. The Portal will not cover objects which are not uniquely identifiable; this includes most furniture, decorative arts, coins, etc.

3. Does the Portal include Judaica?

Initial listings of Judaica may be less complete than those for European paintings. In the interim, the Portal will keep a record of whether participating museums hold Judaica in their collections. To see a list of participating museums with Judaica, visit our Museums with Judaica page.

4. What information does the Portal provide about objects?

The Portal requests the following information for each object listed by a participating museum:

• Artist/Maker Name
• Nationality of Artist/Maker
• Place or Culture of Object (if Artist/Maker unknown)
• Object Title or Name
• Object Type (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
• Description

More complete information about the object can be obtained from the participating museum.

Each participating museum is responsible for all information provided about objects in its collection. Questions or requests for additional details about an object should be addressed directly to the participating museum.

5. My search returned no results. Does that mean my object is not in a U.S. Museum collection?

Not necessarily. Because provenance research is a work in progress, additional museums may join the Portal and list objects for some time to come. However, if you have constructed your search carefully using different combinations of search terms and strategies (see Search Instructions) and still found no matches, it is probable that the object you seek is not part of the collection of any of the museums participating in the Portal at the time you did your search.

6. Does the Portal include information about objects in sales galleries, auction houses, or private collections?

No. The Portal includes information only about objects in U.S. museum collections.

7. Does the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal, the American Alliance of Museums, or the organizations funding the Portal vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the information about objects the Portal provides?

The individual museums participating in the Portal are ultimately responsible for all information about objects held in their collections. The Portal is a central finding aid to collections information, and is not itself an authoritative database of that information. As such, the Portal itself can make no warranty regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information provided.