About the Heritage Samples Registry¶
The Heritage Samples Registry (HSR) is an emerging international initiative to support the persistent identification, discovery, and sharing of information about physical samples in heritage science. These samples, including paint cross-sections, material fragments, and reference standards, are among the most valuable and irreplaceable assets in conservation and heritage science research. They are analysed, reused, and reinterpreted across institutions and over decades, yet they rarely carry consistent identifiers that would allow researchers to reliably trace their history or connect them to related publications and datasets.
The HSR addresses this directly. Each sample registered in the system is assigned a unique IGSN (International Generic Sample Number), which is also a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -- the same type of persistent identifier used for academic publications. This gives every sample a stable, globally resolvable reference that can be cited in research outputs and linked across systems, regardless of where the sample is held or how it is documented locally.
The registry provides a minimal descriptive record for each sample -- enough to make it findable and citable -- while leaving detailed analytical data, images, and documentation where they already exist, in institutional repositories, project platforms, and publications. Participation does not require institutions to move or duplicate their data.
Why this matters¶
Heritage science depends on small physical samples that are often unique and impossible to replace. A paint cross-section taken from a fifteenth-century altarpiece, or a mortar sample from a medieval building, may be studied multiple times over many years by different researchers in different countries.
Within a single institution it is sometimes possible to trace a sample's history, but this often relies on local documentation practices or the personal memory of staff, and it becomes harder as time passes and people move on. Across institutions and in the wider published literature the challenge is much greater. Connecting work done on the same sample across historic publications can be very difficult, and in many cases is simply not possible without a shared, persistent identifier.
The HSR is designed to make this easier and, over time, to make it routine. By giving each sample a stable reference point, the registry creates the identification layer that connects physical samples to the broader digital ecosystem of heritage science -- linking them to related analyses, publications, datasets, and in time to digital twin representations that bring together everything known about a given object or sample.
How the registry fits into the broader landscape¶
The concepts behind the HSR and the technical approaches it uses were developed and refined across a series of earlier projects within the E-RIHS (European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science) framework, including work carried out under IPERION HS (Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure ON Heritage Science). The work to specifically design and build the registry is being carried out through the ECHOES (European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science) project, with additional support from the HSDS (Heritage Science Data Service) project within the RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science) programme.
The HSR draws on guidance from the IGSN organisation and the DataCite IGSN metadata recommendations, and is actively engaging with the IGSN DataCite Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Community of Practice with the aim of aligning approaches and contributing to shared standards for sample identification across the cultural heritage sector. We are also exploring connections with the ICCROM Register of Heritage Samples Archives (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), a complementary initiative focused on the documentation and accessibility of heritage sample archives.
The registry is designed to complement existing collection management systems and research repositories rather than replace them, connecting to international infrastructure through standard APIs and linked data practices. It is beginning with paint cross-sections as its initial focus, working with core institutional partners to develop and refine workflows before broadening to other sample types across the heritage and GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) sectors.
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