PROVENANCE
ARCHIVES
Preserving the objects. Documenting the stories. Establishing the record.
History lives around the object.
Provenance Archives is an independent historical research and preservation project dedicated to documenting objects, records, ephemera, and the people and stories connected to them.
Our work begins with an object, but it does not end there. We research where materials came from, who created and preserved them, how they changed hands, and the historical context that gives them meaning.
Whenever possible, history is supported by original objects, photographs, correspondence, contemporary publications, firsthand accounts, and other primary-source evidence.
MWHApronounced “mwah” — like a kiss
Behind every bottle is a record waiting to be popped open.
The Marilyn Wines Historical Archive was created to look beyond the label—to document the people, records, photographs, production history, and personal stories that give these bottles their provenance.
We’re following the evidence, preserving collector histories, and asking questions that sometimes lead somewhere nobody expected.
For more than three decades, Marilyn Wines grew from Napa Valley winemaking into a distinctive body of wines featuring imagery and artwork associated with Marilyn Monroe, along with related labels, advertising, promotional material, packaging, and ephemera.
The archive is an ongoing effort to identify, acquire, document, preserve, and research that history.
Surviving physical material is studied alongside the stories of collectors, former owners, employees, artists, printers, distributors, retailers, representatives, and others connected to its creation and preservation.
The goal is not simply to assemble a collection.
It is to reconstruct the history around it.
The record is still being built.
The Marilyn Wines Historical Archive is actively being developed. Physical materials are being acquired and documented, historical records are being located and cross-referenced, and individuals connected to Marilyn Wines are being identified and interviewed.
As evidence is established, materials will be cataloged with information about date, format, condition, provenance, acquisition history, related people and organizations, and supporting documentation.
Some records will remain incomplete. When something has not been established, the archive will say so.
A collection is more than its centerpiece.
Bottles & Packaging
Marilyn Merlot, Norma Jeane, special releases, presentation packaging, boxes, and related formats.
Labels & Printed Material
Labels, proofs, display pieces, catalogs, brochures, advertisements, postcards, and promotional literature.
Posters & Display Material
Retail and promotional posters, framed displays, point-of-sale material, and large-format pieces.
Photographs & Records
Historical photographs, correspondence, business records, contemporary publications, and documentary evidence.
Oral & Collector Histories
Firsthand accounts from collectors, former owners, employees, business associates, and others whose experiences help reconstruct the historical record.
Do you have part of this history?
Collections do not survive in one place. They survive in closets, wine cellars, offices, restaurants, warehouses, filing cabinets, photo albums, old correspondence — and in the memories of the people who were there.
If you owned or collected Marilyn Wines, worked with the company, sold or distributed its products, produced printed material, participated in artwork or licensing, photographed events, or possess related objects or records, we would like to hear from you.
You do not need to sell or donate anything. Information alone can help establish provenance, identify surviving material, correct the historical record, or reconnect an object with the story that belongs to it.
Evidence before assumption.
Provenance Archives distinguishes between documented fact, firsthand recollection, working identification, and unresolved questions.
Original sources are preserved whenever possible. Conflicting evidence is documented rather than quietly discarded. Corrections remain part of the research history.
The purpose is not to manufacture certainty.
It is to leave a better record than the one we found.