Contact Details

Julian Carter
Collections Services
National Museum Cardiff

Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP

Phone: +44 (0)29 2057 3230

Staff Name

Julian Carter

Job Title

Principal Conservator, Natural Sciences

Areas of Responsibility:

Conservation and care of the Natural Science collections, with particular expertise in the zoological collections and the Blaschka glass model collection. Additional expertise in the British spider fauna and cave biology.

Qualifications, memberships and relevant positions

BSc (Hons) Environmental Biology (University off Wales, Swansea).

MPhil Biological Science / Conservation (Cardiff University).

Council member - Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections).

Member – Natural Sciences Collections Association.

Research Interests

My main area of research looks at the preservation, care and conservation of museum natural science collections. Of particular interest is looking at how to improve the preservation of key bimolecular components such as proteins and nucleic acids, using methods such as FTIR spectroscopy to monitor chemical changes. Research is also focused to look at methods of improving conservation methods to allow more effective display and use of natural science specimens.

A secondary area of research is in the areas of spider ecology and the biology of cave systems.

Keywords

Museum conservation; zoological collections; DNA; molecular preservation; FTIR; fluid preservation; cave biology; arachnology.

Links

Selected Publications

Carter, J. 2010. Taxonomy is dead… long live taxonomy. Understanding the science of preservation in museum natural science collections [PDF]. In J. Henderson (ed.), Conservation in Wales: The Role of Science in Conservation, 3-6. Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and National Museum Wales.

Cleal, C.J., Shute, C.H., Hilton, J. & Carter, J. 2009. A revision of the Pennsylvanian-aged Eremopteris-bearing seed plant. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 170, 666-698.

Carter, J.D. 2009. The effect of pH on ethanol preserved muscle tissue [PDF]. Collection Forum, 23(1-2), 36-45.

Carter, J.D. 2006.

Breaking the code. Conserving DNA; new demands on natural science collections. In C. Buttler and M. Davies (eds), Things fall apart: Museum Conservation in Practice.  
Cardiff, National Museum Wales Press, 16-23. 

Carter, J.D. and Meecham, C. 2006.

Nature in Glass. Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka Breaking the code.
In C. Buttler and M. Davies (eds),
Things fall apart: Museum Conservation in Practice
. Cardiff, National Museum Wales Press, 164-171. 

Jefferson, G.T., Chapman, P., Carter, J., and Proudlove, G. 2004. The invertebrate fauna of the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system, Powys, South Wales, UK [PDF]. Cave and Karst Science 31 (2), 63-76.

Carter, J.D. 2003.

The effects of preservation and conservation treatments on the DNA of museum invertebrate fluid preserved collections [PDF].
MPhil.

Carter, J.D. 2002. The Conservation of Vertebrate Collections. The Biology Curator, 23, 4-8.

Carter, J.D. 1998. Conserving invertebrate animal collections. SSCR Journal 9, 9-13.

Blog Entries

by Julian Carter
2 September 2016
by Julian Carter
8 July 2016
by Julian Carter
26 May 2015
by Julian Carter
7 November 2013
by Julian Carter
19 August 2013
by Julian Carter
29 January 2013
by Julian Carter
21 November 2012
by Julian Carter
7 November 2012
by Julian Carter
3 October 2012
by Julian Carter
29 May 2012