In this paper, we investigate how innovative technologies in the field of cultural heritage, particularly augmented reality, can be used to advance research in a highly digitized era. We will describe advancements in digital recreations of cultural heritage. We will also describe a formative study we undertook to understand current challenges in cultural heritage research, as well as to understand current practices in research and insights gained from interaction with physical cultural heritage materials. We then propose two designs based on analysis of data from the formative study. Finally, we conclude with possible directions for the integration of augmented reality in cultural heritage research.