Photoshop® Assisted Spectroscopy: An Economical and Non-Destructive Method for Tracking Color Shift.

Abstract

Many historically and culturally significant objects from the mid-to-late 20^th century were created with media which contains light sensitive dyes that present problems for collection custodians and conservators. The conservation staff at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health, conducted a multi-phase project on the aging of ballpoint pen ink in a variety of enclosure types that ultimately culminated in the development of a new method to detect color shift in documents with light sensitive media. This article offers instructions on how to detect color shift in digitized materials using Photoshop® Assisted Spectroscopy.