Heritage Science Lab

IPCH is home to state-of-the-art laboratory facilities where its scientists use advanced imaging and materials analysis to study objects in Yale’s museums and libraries, as well as undertake path-breaking research that contributes to the global cultural heritage science community. 

Heritage scientists, sometimes called conservation scientists, use specialized methods to analyze artifacts and support their care, display, and use in teaching. They offer hands-on learning opportunities through courses, training programs, and partnerships with faculty that blend science, engineering, and the humanities.

Off-campus, the team collaborates with museum and university partners to expand impact through teaching and research projects at home and abroad.

Recent News

Research Highlights

Views of Bridgetown

A collaborative research project

Conservation scientists from IPCH are actively collaborating with the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, the Yale Center for British Art, and the United Kingdom National Trust to conserve paintings of national significance.

The project is focused on three paintings depicting panoramic representations of Barbados and the settlement of Bridgetown during the British colonial period. They are the earliest known surviving paintings of the subject.

This collaboration aims to increase understanding of the artists, creation dates, historical context, provenance, materials, and painting techniques.

Four people look at artworks laying on a table in a storage facility.

Illuminated Tarocchi Cards

A technical analysis of the Visconti-Sforza Decks

The three earliest and most complete surviving decks of illuminated Italian tarocchi cards, known collectively as the Visconti-Sforza decks, were studied in a collaborative research project between conservators, conservation scientists, and curators from the United States and Italy. 

By uniting cards from Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with counterparts held in other collections, a series of conservation science techniques were applied to the objects for the first time.

Discoveries included underdrawings, or outlines on the top layer of the cards, among other findings.

Learn more about this project
The front and back of an old tarocchi or tarot card next to drawings of watermarks found on the cards in the shape of a camel-like animal.

Lab Bibliography

View more selected publications

Two large microscopes next to each other on a grey table.