Company Profile
Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage
Company Overview
The Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH) is the collaborative and programmatic nexus of preservation and conservation expertise across Yale’s libraries, museums, and special collections. Established in 2011, IPCH enacts its mission to advance the preservation and interpretation of the world’s cultural heritage through collaborative research, practice, training, and outreach. Located on the Yale West Campus, IPCH engages with scholars and students and with its world-class collections, including those of the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale University Library. The Technical Studies Lab at IPCH decodes art and artifacts, enabling scholars across disciplines to incisively interpret origins and histories. Fundamental to this work is understanding and managing change, especially deterioration and its detection, monitoring, and treatment. We also develop tools and methodologies that enable new modes of studying art and artifacts. Facilities include a variety of XRF instruments, optical microscopes, FTIR microscope, Raman microscope, SEM/EDS, GC/MS, UV/visible spectroscopy, and an array of accelerated aging and mechanical testing equipment.