Facility

IPI's 7000-square-foot facility on the RIT campus is a unique research center equipped for testing materials and conducting preservation research. The center includes several distinct areas:

Microscopy Laboratory

Laboratory setup with a desktop computer displaying a microscopic image and a microscope, used for scientific research or educational purposes.

IPI’s state-of-the-art imaging and microscopy lab uses a variety of techniques to document everything from test samples to works of art. Imaging techniques include use of axial light to document surface gloss, raking light to emphasize texture, and UV to induce fluorescence. Images made here are used in creating publications, lectures, and didactic materials in various formats, most notably IPI’s online resource, Graphics Atlas.

Incubation Laboratory

Industrial electrical enclosure with a control panel featuring a digital display, buttons, and a red emergency stop button, with the door open revealing empty racks inside.

IPI’s incubation laboratory contains thirteen temperature/humidity chambers and two dry ovens that provide controlled conditions for a variety of tests. The lab also has a walk-in chamber that can maintain a wide range of temperatures and humidities. This chamber is used for conditioning test samples prior to incubation, and sustainable environmental management research projects.

Chemistry Laboratory

Person in a white lab coat and blue gloves using a pipette to transfer a clear liquid into an Erlenmeyer flask containing a yellowish-green liquid in a laboratory setting.

Activities in the chemistry lab include solution preparation and a wide range of tests to support research in imaging material stability and material testing services. This includes film base acidity testing and testing of enclosure materials such as paper.

Mechanical Testing Laboratory

Laboratory setup with a large black and orange machine with a digital screen, connected to various tubes and wires, alongside petri dishes, a box, scattered papers, and a red notebook and pen on the table.

IPI’s mechanical testing laboratory is equipped with a digital image correlation (DIC) system and a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) to evaluate the mechanical properties of materials as they are exposed to different temperature and relative humidity conditions.

Instrumentation Laboratory

Table with white trays containing various items like brown rectangles and white packets, alongside a paper with colored rectangles and labels.

IPI’s instrumentation room is an area designated to prepare samples, measure color and gloss, analyze images, and test the physical properties of materials. To maintain standard conditions, this room is climate controlled with a temperature of 70°F and a relative humidity of 50%.

Dr. Peter Z. Adelstein Library

Conference room with a large wooden table surrounded by black office chairs, a bookshelf filled with books on one side, and a white projection screen on the opposite side.

IPI has assembled an impressive reference library through generous donations from Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory, the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, and many others. Library items, both historical and modern, range in subject from the history of photography, photographic science, motion-picture film, and applied photography to the preservation and conservation of photographs. On May 20, 2010, the library was dedicated in honor of Dr. Peter Z. Adelstein for his many valuable contributions to IPI.

IPI Research Collection

Room with a large oval wooden table holding open archival boxes and loose materials, surrounded by gray metal file cabinets with labels, suggesting an archive or storage room for historical documents.

A classroom within the center serves as a multi-functional space dedicated to photographic materials research, collection storage and small group instruction. This room incorporates and centralizes IPI’s study collection, which includes a Gift of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met donated a collection of mounted art reproductions and architectural photographs to IPI in 2005.