Carter Jackson

Carter’s research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture in Britain and the United States. His dissertation, entitled “The Architecture of Britain’s Imperial Institutes and the Misgivings of Empire,” examines the role that buildings played in facilitating communication, migration, and the flow of knowledge within the British Empire. This project centers on the architecture of London’s no longer extant Imperial Institute (1893-1960)—a massive building complex intended to be the scientific and commercial nerve center of the Empire. By relating the design and history of this building to that of its typological antecedents and successors in Britain and its former colonies, his dissertation explores how architecture was utilized to provide access to information in ways that perpetuated British imperial rule and made tangible Britain’s imagined imperial community.

Carter has worked with architecture in the context of museums and historic preservation through internships at institutions including Historic New England, the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MA SHPO), the MIT Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He has also worked as an historian for the Historic American Buildings Survey, and he currently serves on the Board of Directors at Boston’s Gibson House Museum.

Carter’s research has been generously supported by grants from institutions including Boston University, the Huntington Library, the New England Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. His writing has been published in venues including Commonwealth Beacon and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide.

Dissertation In Progress:
“The Architecture of Britain’s Imperial Institutes and the Misgivings of Empire”

Research Interests:

• Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Architecture in Britain and the United States
• Historic Preservation

2022-2023:
Guest Lecture Series co-Coordinator, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association

2021-2022:
Social Media co-Coordinator, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association
Travel Grant Committee Member, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association

2020-2021:
Forum co-Coordinator, Graduate Student History of Art & Architecture Association.