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01 May 2024

See Wisbech and the Fens through the lens of a pioneering female photographer and learn about keeping this remarkable collection for the future

Like another world, but familiar – whether born here or new to the town, don't miss the chance to see Lilian Ream: Faces and Places at Wisbech Museum now until July 13.

The Lilian Ream Trust staging the Museum's major summer exhibition hopes some visitors will be enthused to join its members in keeping these remarkable photographs in the public eye for the future.

The 200,000 surviving images – many without captions - form a priceless archive of life in the Fens from the 1910s to the Fifties, and you are invited to share what you know about their subjects whenever you visit.

The Trustees will be at the exhibition for two Saturday morning events – on May 18 and June 15 – to meet anyone who'd like to share ideas about the future of the collection and find out how they can help to preserve it through volunteering and even becoming trustees themselves.

Rolling images on a wall-mounted carousel are being changed at intervals, chosen for their quirkiness and particularity to the local area.

The Exhibition is staged at the Museum by the Lilian Ream Trust thanks to a grant from Fenland District Council's Culture Fund and many of the images have not been seen in public before.

Robert Bell, chairman of the Trust, said “We are extremely grateful to the Fenland Culture Fund for providing funding to enable to us to mount this exhibition here at the Museum. It highlights the career of a businesswoman who came to dominate professional photography in Wisbech for nearly half a century.”