In this paper, we first outline the Thales EC-supported project INVENVORG, which investigates the effects of the environmental factors on non-treated organic materials, namely bone, woolen textile, parchment, paper and wood. The project planning includes an accelerated ageing study (with exposure to elevated temperatures and relative humidities, light and pollutants) and then a natural ageing study in monitored museums environments, followed by the statistical correlation analysis of the material properties after accelerated and natural ageing with the environmental stresses, in order to determine the real life relative contribution of the various environmental parameters to material ageing.

After a literature review concerning the exhaustive research on the accelerated ageing of paper, the experimental design pertaining to paper is presented. Accelerated ageing will be used for the production of artificially aged samples that emulate aged paper in a controlled manner. A preliminary ageing experiment will help determine the most suitable conditions, and will provide data that will be correlated to those produced by natural ageing. Virgin and artificially aged samples will then be exposed for 2 years to closely monitored museums environments. Tearing strength, degree of polymerization determined by viscometry, pH and the color coordinates of the CIEL*a*b* colour system will be determined and used for the statistical analysis.