AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

Multispectral imaging (MSI) is an established cultural heritage technique for identifying materials and revealing non-visible information such as underdrawings and erased or faded text. While this technology has had limited reach due to traditionally high costs and specialized equipment and training, a low-cost, end-to-end, portable system was developed by RIT’s Imaging Science and Museum Studies Programs through a National Endowment of the Humanities grant (PR-268783-20), Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts (MISHA). MISHA images in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared at 16 distinct wavelengths. This system has currently examined 200+ items (primarily parchment and paper) which lends to the analysis of the data to determine trends in the capture process, such as which wavelengths performed best with various materials. This research outlines the current progress of which wavelengths provide optimal results revealing non-visible information depending on an item’s various factors (condition, age, and so on). The results will form a “recipe book" for MISHA users, and other MSI systems, providing guidance on wavelength selection and processing techniques, derived from visual assessment and computational analysis of the MISHA dataset. The impact of this will be to improve MSI practices for cultural heritage professionals who do not have an imaging background and shortening an item’s exposure/handling time, reducing the potential damage to the item, and processing time and storage space for the multispectral images and software. For the research currently, results for various parchment and thermal paper items have been obtained with the potential to expand it to other items as well.