The Isca Photographic Collection: Exeter Through The Lens

About

Step into Exeter's past through the eyes of its photographers. This exhibition showcases the city's changing streetscapes, its people, and pivotal moments in history. Highlights include:

* Elegant society portraits and family photographs that reflect Exeter's social fabric.

* Rare images of the Baedeker Raids of 1942, which devastated the city's historic heart.

* Scenes of urban transformation through the 1920s and 1930s.
Together, these photographs form a vivid chronicle of Exeter's identity – its triumphs, tragedies and enduring spirit.

About the Isca Photographic Project

The Isca Photographic Collection is one of the most significant visual archives of Exeter's history, spanning the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. It preserves thousands of glass plate negatives and prints created by local photographers, most notably Henry Wykes (1874–1964), whose work documented the city's transformation through urban development, social life, and wartime devastation.

This archive offers an unparalleled window into Exeter's cultural heritage, capturing both extraordinary events and everyday moments. The Isca Photographic Collection Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to preserve an irreplaceable record of twentieth-century Exeter.

The project is run by the South West Heritage Trust and builds on the foundational work of historian and photographer Peter Thomas who created the Isca collection. It is supported by both the Friends of Devon's Archives and The Exeter Canal & Quay Trust.