April 27, 2019 Presentation by Dr. Richard Laursen Textile dye analysis: What it can tell you and what not Some pictures click on the thumbnail for the full picture. In this talk Dr. Laursen described the methods we have developed and used for the analysis of dyes in rugs and other textiles and discuss what kinds of information can be obtained about the textile. This analysis is useful for characterizing primary colors (blue, red and yellow and their mixtures) in textiles. In general, one can identify the type of type of dye used and sometimes the species of organism that produced (or did not produce) it. Such information can sometimes give clues as to the geographical location where the textile was made. Dye analysis is not useful for dating textiles, except that the finding of synthetic dyes means that the object was produced or repaired after 1856, when the first synthetic dye was made. I will illustrate this work with the results of analysis of textiles from various parts of the world dating from 1000 BC to about 1900 AD. Richard Laursen obtained his BS (1961) and PhD (1964) degrees in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, respectively. After two postdoctoral years at Harvard University, he joined the chemistry faculty at Boston University, where he conducted research in protein chemistry for about 35 years. Following sabbatical leave in the Sherman Fairchild Conservation Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, he turned his attention to the analysis of natural dyes in textiles of historical interest—in particular development of new techniques for extraction of dyes from textile specimens and their analysis. For more information, see also: http://www.bu.edu/chemistry/faculty/laursen/ and (for publications) http://www.bu.edu/chemistry/faculty/laursen/publications/ return to home page