1 INTRODUCTION

During the last 10 years there has been a great expansion in the application of computer technology in conservation. In 1985 the Canadian Group of the International Institute for Conservation held a workship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the application of aspects of computer technology (Perkins 1985). This event and a follow-up workshop in 1994 covered a range of issues that affect the practicing conservator, such as setting up databases, using information networks, writing condition reports on portable computers, and monitoring environmental conditions. As hardware and software technology have developed and equipment costs have declined, computers have increasingly become part of a conservator's work. Computers for word processing are a common feature in conservation laboratories, and conservators are using portable computers for off-site condition-report writing or collection surveys.

This article describes computer-assisted image manipulation, which is coming within the economic reach of museums as imaging hardware and software costs drop.