Historic photographs of Lewes residents to displayed throughout the town this October

By Frankie Elliott
Published 29th Sep 2022, 10:48 BST
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An exhibition of historic photographs showcasing Lewes and its people will be displayed n lightboxes throughout the town centre during October.

The Edward Reeves Archive, in association with the Photography and the Archive Research Centre at UAL and Edward Reeves Photography, present Stories Seen Through A Glass Plate: In Their Footsteps.

The photos will display a century of life in Lewes, showing townsfolk in the places they lived, worked, relaxed and celebrated. It will include formal portraits taken in the Reeves’ Studio as well as Lewes street scenes, revealing the world in which the subjects lived and the people they may have encountered.

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Brigitte Lardinois, director of the Photography and the Arts Research Centre at LCC, UAL, said: “The Edward Reeves Archive project is very important in the history of British photography and I am delighted that with the help of our many volunteers we are able to once again share some of this unique collection.”

The photos will display a century of life in Lewes, showing townsfolk in the places they lived, worked, relaxed and celebratedThe photos will display a century of life in Lewes, showing townsfolk in the places they lived, worked, relaxed and celebrated
The photos will display a century of life in Lewes, showing townsfolk in the places they lived, worked, relaxed and celebrated

The group have used contemporary newspaper reports and guidebooks to understand the personal back stories of those in the photo – describing their family life, work, and leisure pursuits.

The lightboxes are placed in locations relevant to the subjects and Illustrated with photographs, showing the high-quality of the images taken from the original glass plates.

Those attending will meet Edward Reeves and his daughter Mary Elizabeth, also a photographer, their neighbour Ruth Simmons who married twice and then emigrated to Canada, and Caroline Napier and Annie Mullens who ran a school for young ladies.

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Tom Reeves, fourth generation photographer at Edward Reeves Photography, said: “It is really exciting that, through the efforts of our volunteers, we have been able for the first time to search our archive for specific named subjects, so in this exhibition we can include portraits of people exhibited in the windows of the houses that they once occupied.

The lightboxes are placed in locations relevant to the subjects and Illustrated with photographs, showing the high-quality of the images taken from the original glass plates.The lightboxes are placed in locations relevant to the subjects and Illustrated with photographs, showing the high-quality of the images taken from the original glass plates.
The lightboxes are placed in locations relevant to the subjects and Illustrated with photographs, showing the high-quality of the images taken from the original glass plates.

"That sheds a fascinating light on a past Lewes and its people.”

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The lightboxes will be unveiled and lit on Thursday (September 29) and will be available to view until Sunday (October 23).

There will also be an additional exhibition at Lewes Town Hall displaying photographs from it’s opening in 1893 to the current day running from tonight (September 15) until October 15.