Electronic Resources for Art Research

Provenance, Repatriation and Legal Resources

UNESCO Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws
This database provides access to: the national legislation of each state relating to the cultural heritage in general, contact details for the national authorities responsible for the protection of the cultural heritage and links to official cultural heritage websites.

Provenance Research at the Getty
The Getty website provides access to the Getty Provenance Index Databases, part of the Project for the Study of Collecting and Provenance. The databases contain almost 1,000,000 records that cover the late 16th to early 20th centuries. Also available are a collection of provenance research resources, with a special focus on Holocaust-era research.

International Foundation for Art Research Provenance Guide
The IFAR provides educational resources and links for conducting provenance research. Also included on the IFAR website are a history of provenance research and its affect on World War II Holocaust-era looted art.

Interpol
Interpol’s web page on stolen works of art provides information on artwork that has been reported stolen or looted. To further the circulation of information, Interpol also provides details on the most recent stolen works reported and works of art that have been recovered.

Art Loss Register
Lost or stolen art can be reported to the Art Loss Register. Visitors who create an account have the opportunity to register their artworks in a pre-loss database. In case of a later loss or theft, they can request a search to see if their item has been recovered.

Cultural Property Advice
Reports on provenance research for the period 1933–1945 by United Kingdom museums on the spoliation of works of art during World War II and the Holocaust. The art work records are accessible through a searchable database.

National NAGPRA
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a Federal law passed in 1990 that provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. This site provides access to legal information, FAQs, and databases which provide information on a variety of NAGPRA-related topics.

ERR Project
The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) Project database provides access to the remaining registration cards and photographs produced by the ERR covering more than 20,000 art objects taken from Jews in German-occupied France and, to a lesser extent, in Belgium. Under Adolf Hitler, plunder of art from French Jewish and a number of Belgian Jewish collections occurred between 1940 and 1944. Take a tour of this resource.

International Research Portal for Records Related to Nazi-Era Cultural Property
The International Research Portal is a collaboration of national and other archival institutions with records that pertain to Nazi-Era cultural property. The portal links researchers to archival materials consisting of descriptions of records and, in many cases, digital images of the records that relate to cultural property that was stolen, looted, seized, forcibly sold, or otherwise lost during the Nazi-era.