These acquisition, accession, and inventory books – mostly handwritten and bound – record in condensed tabular form which artworks entered the collection, their origin, and, where applicable, their later deaccession or loss. Organized primarily through running chronological numbers sorted by year, they function as foundational primary sources for provenance research, documentation, and collection indexing.

For researchers, these volumes are authoritative reference points for verifying institutional records and disputing ownership histories. At the same time, they expose the layered and often contested histories of institutional collecting practices, including shifts in acquisition policies and the long-term formation of museum collections.

However, when translated into digital form, these materials present a UX challenge: their analytical value depends on precise comparison across time, categories, and provenance chains, yet their complexity is often poorly supported by conventional digital interfaces. Researchers—especially those working within provenance studies and decolonial frameworks—require tools that enable granular navigation, cross-referencing, and pattern recognition without imposing curatorial interpretation or limiting access through rigid presentation structures.