Working from the reference collection of photographic papers, Paul Messier develops and deploys methods for determining the manufacture date of photographic paper. This work serves authentication research, confirmation of provenance, and forensic studies.  Paul serves as an expert witness in cases of art fraud and for cases of disputed photographic evidence. 
 

Paul's research exposing fraudulent prints by Lewis Hine was a breakthrough that provided benchmarks for objective and empirical dating of photographic paper.  The Hine analysis received widespread press coverage including articles in ARTnews, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Economist.  From ARTnews: "The advances will reduce fraud, influence the marketplace, and even revise art history.”