Coffee Time Talk: Saving the Isca Photographic Collection

Join Isca Photographic Collection Project Officer Kitty Vega to discover the hidden history of Exeter through the extraordinary Isca Photographic Collection. This talk explores the life and work of Henry Wykes, the city’s foremost photographer, and the urgent conservation efforts to rescue thousands of deteriorating images from the brink of loss.

The Isca Photographic Collection is one of Exeter’s most significant visual archives, comprising thousands of negatives, photographic prints and other ephemera that document the city’s people, places, and transformations across the twentieth century. At its heart lies the work of Henry Wykes (1874–1964), whose studio and field photography captured everything from wartime devastation to everyday life in shops, schools, and homes.

This talk will delve into the origins of the collection, first safeguarded by historian Peter Thomas, and now undergoing a major preservation and digitisation project led by the South West Heritage Trust and funded by a £178,579 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. With over 24,000 acetate negatives suffering from vinegar syndrome (a chemical deterioration that threatens to destroy them) the project is a race against time to save Exeter’s photographic legacy.

Join Project Officer Kitty Vega for a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation process, the stories emerging from the images, and the community engagement work that’s bringing this remarkable archive back into public view. From Blitz rubble to sewing workshops at St Loye’s College, the Isca Collection offers a powerful glimpse into Exeter’s past and its future as a city that remembers.

More to Explore

Find out more about us on our website: swheritage.org.uk

To see more of our events have a look at our events page.

To keep up to date with our talks, workshops and exhibitions, sign up here.