Giving life to the dead: Barts Pathology Museum's Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine gives life to the dead – not only does she ensure the preservation of 5,000 specimens housed at Barts Pathology Museum, she blogs about their history

Tell us about a typical day at Barts Pathology Museum: There isn’t really a typical day at Barts although I tend to have the same basic structure which involves checking my e-mails with a cup of coffee when I arrive at 8:30am. The content of the e-mails tends to dictate what will be a priority that day – for example a production company requesting to film here will usually need my attention and organisation very quickly. Most of my day involves conservation of the specimens and cataloguing though, as that’s my main job. The organisation of events, writing the “Pott’s Pots” blog, meetings about funding and collaborations etc. all weave through my daily routine.

What does preserving a specimen entail? How do you ensure nothing is damaged? About 60% of my preservation is on acrylic pots but my favourite to conserve is glass. I ensure nothing is damaged by being careful and taking my time, making sure I have all the right equipment at the ready and following procedures I learned during my training.

The process begins by scraping the glass sealant from around the top of the pot (usually pitch, consisting of asphalt and gutta-percha) until the glass lid gently lifts off, often with the specimen suspended from it by linen thread. I check the identity of the existing fluid which the specimen was in, place some of the same in a Tupperware pot and, after cutting the linen threads, place the specimen in there, safely labelled and temporarily re-housed.

[caption id="attachment_36300" align="alignright" width="200"] Barts Pathology Museum Credit Tony TK Smith[/caption]

The glass jar is thoroughly cleaned, sometimes by painstakingly scraping away the entire black residue with a scalpel then washing in detergent, until it’s gleaming. Fresh fluid is placed into the dry jar, new threads are sewn into the specimen (in the same place they were previously) and it is then suspended perfectly in place, secured by masking tape to the glass. The top is sealed with silicon and after 24 hours the overhanging threads can be cut and clay used around the top to replicate the original pitch. Another 24 hours later and this can be painted glossy black. As you can see the process takes a while!

How much is known about the history of individual specimens? What’s your oldest specimen? The amount of information known about the individual specimens varies and usually once I write a post on it I’ve had to research several sources such as my own catalogues, the St Bartholomew’s Hospital Archives and old books in the library downstairs. The oldest one we have is an inguinal hernia preserved by Percival Pott himself (one of the museum’s first curators, who I named the blog after). It dates from 1750 and I recently re-potted it back into glass after it was moved to acrylic in the 1970s like many other specimens were http://potts-pots.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/specimen-m74-from-archives.html

What piece have you found most interesting to work on and why?  I found it most interesting to work on our example of a “Tight-Lacer’s” liver dating from 1907. It’s rare to find such a good example of the damage done by prolonged wearing of corsets and, like many of our specimens it’s still relevant today as corsets are popular in fetish and burlesque scenes. However unlike people who wear them for style nowadays, corsets used to be worn for 18+ hours and some even wore them to bed. It really gives us a glimpse into what life was like for a Victorian woman http://potts-pots.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/specimen-n192-from-archives.html

What’s your background – how did you get into this unusual line of work?  I am a qualified Senior Anatomical Pathology Technician which means I worked in mortuaries for most of my career, giving technical support to Pathologists during autopsy. I carried out all types of post-mortems including High Risk, perinatal and Forensic, and worked in the temporary mortuary following the London Bombings on July 7^th 2005. I did this following a BSc in Forensic and Biomolecular Sciences and then embarked upon an MSc in Forensic Anthropology when I was working full time. As part of this I excavated plague skeletons in the Venetian lagoon and WWI soldiers in Belgium. I feel that my work here at the Pathology museum is a natural progression from that background as I’ve been able to teach and write about this collection, as well as my experience, and continue giving a voice to the dead.

Barts is more than just a museum – what else goes on here? Barts Pathology Museum is a Medical-Humanities hub meaning that I’m able to develop not only medical teaching here but also history, public health, literature, arts and more. As my days are taken up with conservation I organise events for evenings and weekends, usually lectures and seminars that bring together two types of demographic. For example, we had a lecture on the ‘Life and Death of Marilyn Monroe’ on the most recent anniversary. One speaker, a journalist Peter Evans who has now sadly passed away, actually met her a few times and talked about how she was in life. Then a QMUL Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Athol Johnston, discussed the circumstances of her death in an accessible way, explaining the mechanism in which barbiturates cause an overdose and discussing their availability at that time. We also have taxidermy workshops, Georgian fascinator making ‘crafternoons’ with lots of the typical Georgian staple Gin on hand, and life drawing classes (or death drawing classes depending on what the attendee would like to sketch!)

In January, I will have a Silent Film Season which will span four weeks. The four films shown will include for example The Hands of Orlac, a strange tale of a man who has a hand transplant – unfortunately the hands are those of a killer… It will address the topic of Cellular Memory in transplant patients but will also showcase this beautiful museum as an ideal venue for education and socialising.

Read more about Carla work at Pott’s Pots http://potts-pots.blogspot.co.uk/