Drawing on her recent work leading the Isca Photographic Collection Project for the South West Heritage Trust, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Kitty explores the life and work of Henry Wykes (1874–1964), widely regarded as Exeter’s foremost photographer. His images capture the city across the twentieth century, from Blitz devastation to scenes of everyday life in homes, schools, and workplaces.
The Isca Photographic Collection comprises thousands of negatives, prints, and related materials documenting Exeter’s people, places, and transformations. First safeguarded by historian, author and photographer, Peter Thomas, the collection has more recently been the focus of a major conservation and digitisation initiative addressing the urgent challenge of chemical deterioration affecting tens of thousands of acetate negatives.
Combining insights from the project, Kitty offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the work to preserve this fragile archive. From the recovery of deteriorating images to the stories emerging from them, the talk highlights how the collection is being brought back into public view – revealing Exeter’s past while shaping how it is remembered in the future.
Photograph: The Last Electric Tram in Service, Exeter, 19 August 1931, Photographed by Henry Wykes. Glass plate negative.
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