A selection of historical twentieth century photographs of Exeter has gone on display at Exeter Custom House.
The pictures are part of a project to preserve 24,000 images of the city and its inhabitants taken during the first half of the 20th Century.
The Isca Photographic Collection will be saved from destruction thanks to a project by the South West Heritage Trust and funded by a £178,579 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The acetate negatives are suffering from vinegar syndrome; an irreversible chemical deterioration process that destroys the negative.
Supported by a team of volunteers the project will digitise the images before they are lost forever,and make them available to researchers.
People can see some of the images at a display at the Custom House on Exeter Quay. The display will run between 11am and 4pm, Thursday to Sunday until Sunday 8 March and is free of charge.
There will also be a series of community events to share the remarkable photographs and the stories they uncover. The images will be used to support wellbeing with reminiscence sessions in residential homes and for work in schools to raise environmental awareness.
The full collection of almost 50,000 images is mainly comprised of the life’s work of photographer Henry Wykes (1874-1964).
Wykes opened his first studio in Exeter in 1914, quickly establishing himself as the city’s foremost photographer, a status he held until his retirement in 1962, by which time he was Britain’s oldest working photographer.
The project pays tribute to the foundational work of historian and photographer Peter Thomas who created the Isca collection.
To find out more about the collection and the project to preserve the images, visit the South West Heritage Trust website at The Isca Photographic Collection Project
East Devon creatives and culture organisations to receive new funding.
Exeter collaboration scoops major award for safer stroke care
Second Christmas Day swimmer identified
Plan for 63 homes lands on controversial ‘hedge destruction’ site
Have Your Say on Cranbrook’s New Leisure & Wellbeing Centre
Criminal damage in Pinhoe, Exeter
Massive Exeter student flats block would ‘tower over homes’
Flag removal on one city road could cost £6k
