IRUG 11 Conference

Wide view of gallery with high ceiling and reddish walled, with European paintings and silver on walls
Wide view of gallery with high ceiling and reddish walled, with European paintings and silver on walls

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is pleased to host the Eleventh Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) Conference, which will take place on November 5-7, 2014. The conference will feature oral presentations and posters that address all aspects of the application of IR and Raman spectroscopies to the study of cultural artifacts and their preservation. Special topics for this meeting will include multispectral or hyperspectral imaging in the near-IR and short-wave IR ranges as applied to cultural artifacts, as well as forensic applications of IR and Raman spectroscopy. Download the program for a list of scheduled talks.

Conference sessions will begin at 10am each day, ending by 6pm on November 5 and 6, and 12pm on November 7. The opening night reception will be held in the newly renovated William I. Koch Gallery, featuring European paintings and Hanoverian silver. Attendees will have free admission to the Museum, which will be open until 9:45pm during the three days of the conference. For information on the MFA and its collections, please visit www.mfa.org.

Registration

Regular rate: 200 USD
Student rate: 100 USD

Registration is closed.

Submission Guidelines

Studies of cultural artifacts often involve multiple techniques, of which IR and/or Raman may only form one part. Submissions of such studies are welcome, as long as the IR and/or Raman component is the main focus of the presentation and this component includes new information on specific analytical procedures or new insights into materials used in works of art.

Presentations that emphasize instrumental development or sample preparation procedures, such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, are also encouraged.

Submissions from the forensic science community are especially encouraged for this meeting, as there are many overlaps between this community and those who study cultural artifacts, including sample preparation techniques and analysis and materials of common interest.

Multispectral and hyperspectral imaging have proven very valuable in numerous studies over the last few years, with many that include the use of visible and IR wavelengths. Presentations on such studies are welcome, with the qualification that the IR component be the main focus.

Submission Deadlines

For oral presentations, 500-word abstracts are due April 30, 2014.
Authors will be informed of decisions on submissions by May 31, 2014.
The anticipated length of oral presentations at the conference is 20 minutes.

For poster presentations, 500-word abstracts are due June 30, 2014.
Authors will be informed of decisions by July 31, 2014.

To submit an abstract, complete this form and email to conservation@mfa.org.

About the MFA

The MFA opened its doors to the public on July 4, 1876, the nation's centennial. Built in Copley Square, the Museum was then home to 5,600 works of art. Over the next several years, the collection and number of visitors grew exponentially, and in 1909 the Museum moved to its current home on Huntington Avenue.

Today the MFA is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world, with nearly 450,000 works of art and welcoming more than one million visitors each year. The Museum has undergone significant expansion and change in recent years; 2010 marked the opening of the Art of the Americas Wing, with four levels of American art from ancient to modern. In 2011, the west wing of the Museum was transformed into the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, with new galleries for contemporary art as well as social and learning spaces. Improved and new galleries for European, Asian, and African art have opened through 2013, with more to come. Please visit to learn more.

The Conservation and Collections Management department is proud to host the IRUG 11 Conference in 2014. The department is an integral part of the Museum’s stated purpose to hold its collections in trust for future generations. It promotes the long-term preservation of the works of art in its care through six conservation disciplines, an analytical facility, and a collections management division responsible for safe exhibition, storage, and transport. Through the development of conservation treatments, study of materials and techniques, and scholarly research, members strive to further scholarly understanding and contribute to public appreciation of the collections.

About IRUG

The Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) is dedicated to the support and professional development of its members by providing a forum for the exchange of infrared and Raman spectroscopic information and reference spectra for the study of the world’s cultural heritage.

The IRUG initiative is sustained at biennial conferences, where participants share information and present papers on a range of topics. A primary goal of IRUG is to improve and expand the data generated and shared by its members. Toward this end, a cooperative database of peer-reviewed IR and Raman reference spectra relevant to cultural heritage materials has been undertaken. For more information, please visit www.irug.org.