Wilhelm Imaging Research

Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. (WIR), run by Henry Wilhelm, is an image testing company that provides contract testing to clients on the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs and motion pictures. The company publishes brand name-specific permanence data for desktop and large-format inkjet printers and other digital printing devices. It also provides consulting services to museums, archives, and commercial collections on sub-zero cold storage for the very long-term preservation of still photographs and motion pictures.

Founded by Henry Wilhelm and Carol Brower in 1995, WIR was established based upon the research done for Wilhelm's 1993 book on photograph preservation (co-authored by Brower) The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures.

The firm's work involves testing of inkjet materials and various digital output used in the industry and by fine-art printing presses. In addition to its raw research, WIR consults for a variety of clients in the photography, archival, and digital print media fields. Clients include the Museum of Modern Art among others, as well as manufacturing companies such as Lexmark, Hewlett-Packard, Fuji, and Epson; additionally, the Bill Gates' owned Corbis Corporation in New York City, owner of the 20-million image Bettmann Archive. Wilhelm himself serves on several boards and associations in the photographic and digital media fields, including the Board of Editorial Advisors for Photo-Electronic Imaging magazine, the Photographic Materials Group of the American Institute for Conservation, and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Wilhelm was a founding member and Secretary of the ANSI subcommittee responsible for writing the ANSI IT9.9 standard on test methods for measuring the stability of color photographs.