The digital recording and publication of information on the provenance of collection objects is becoming increasingly important for university collections. This is particularly true for provenances that are problematic from legal or ethical standpoints. High-priority issues include acquisitions in colonial contexts and confiscations related to Nazi-era persecution.

For this pilot study, we can build on long-standing working relationships with Dr. Meike Hoffmann’s provenance research team at the FU. Our goal is to jointly develop data structures and an infrastructural setting that will make it possible to digitally represent the scientifically relevant data in a professional and precise manner with the given (minimal) resources.

The Sultan Art Collection Research (SACRe), led by Dr. Meike Hoffmann, is working to reconstruct the art collection of the German-Jewish entrepreneur Adolf Sultan (1861–1941) and is attempting to clarify the whereabouts of the works.

According to the DZK’s funding guidelines, the project does not have dedicated funding for a digital infrastructure. The Digital Network for Collections was able to provide uncomplicated assistance by providing an  Omeka S database system instance on an interim basis. Since we have automated the setup of Omeka S instances, this process could be executed with minimal effort.

Together with the provenance research team, we are currently developing a data model that is capable of digitally mapping the researched data to accompany the research. In the future, this model, will also enable the adequate recording and presentation of data on the provenance of objects in Berlin's university collections.

The long-term archiving of the resulting research data will be handled by heidata, the discipline-specific repository.