Ever wondered what shopping and shops in Cambridge were like a decade or hundreds of years ago? Now you can find out during a fascinating Museum of Cambridge exhibition, Capturing Cambridge Consumers, tracing the history and experiences of shopping and shops in Cambridge over the last 400 years. Featuring a collection of objects, images and ephemera from the 17th Century right through to the current day, the exhibition promises to reveal a remarkable aspect of the city’s history.
Part of Open cambridge 2016, the exhibit links to the stories of shops, businesses and individuals, such as one of the Museum’s founders, Ernest Saville Peck, a pharmacist who inherited his family business on Trumpington Street, and former Museum Curator, Enid Porter, who edited the diaries of Josiah Chater, an Eaden Lilley apprentice draper.
A range of items will be unveiled to the public, including a set of trade tokens used by 17th century merchants, beautifully headed invoices from 19thcentury shops, personal account books of local residents in the early 20th century and old photographs of shops and shoppers in Cambridge. Many people will remember Eaden Lilley, Robert Sayle and Joshua Taylor. Through images and documents, the stories are told of shops now long forgotten, others remembered with great affection and some that are still with us today.
Not only have the shops changed but the whole shopping experience. One constant throughout the centuries is the market traders on Market Hill and Peas Hill, selling their wares from outdoor stalls in the heart of the town.
In addition to the exhibition and drop-in session at the Museum on Friday, come along and see the Market Stall on Saturday – part of Great St Mary’s Market Stall Stories – where memories, prompted by old photographs, from market traders and shoppers will be collected. Share your own stories and help us capture this central aspect of Cambridge life.