by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those books that offer…
Year: 2016
Exploring Lost Expeditions in the Collections at Leeds Central Library: A Multi-Sensory Storytelling Experience
by Antony Ramm, Rhian Isaac and Ross Horsley, Central Library Thousands of people visited Leeds Central Library during this year’s Light Night celebrations and over two hundred of those experienced our interactive exhibition – or, as we thought of it: a multi-sensory storytelling experience – dedicated to four stories of loss and obsession in 19th and 20th-century exploration,…
Stories, Songs and Proclamations
By Karen Downham, Local & Family History Library This week in the blog we will be looking at Broadsides, and exploring some of those in the Local & Family History Collection. A broadside, in its simplest definition, is a sheet of paper printed only on one side. They were often posters announcing events, proclamations, and advertisements,…
Illuminating the Rich History of “Light Night” in Leeds
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library No doubt most readers of our blog will be spending this evening enjoying one of the many wonderful art events happening around the city centre as part of the annual Light Night celebrations. And most readers will probably already be aware of how those celebrations started –…
Theatres Through Time: Tate Wilkinson
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library Leeds has a long and rich theatrical history, stretching back to at least 1722, when Ralph Thoresby noted, in his diary – and with some disapproval! – the appearance of a group of players in the town. The collections and books available in our Local and…
The Civil War in the Library
This week on the Secret Library we welcome back guest blogger Polly Clare-Hudson from the University of Leeds. Polly has previously written about a wonderful Shakespeare book in our collections but, in this article, turns her attentions to slightly-later events in 17th-century England… The English Civil War took place from 1642 to 1651, and was…
Back to the Berthas
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library The fastest route into the past, I always think, isn’t really a family tree, a faded photo, or even an old map. It’s a story. And stories are one thing we’re not short of in Local and Family History (or the library itself, for that…
A Menagerie of Maps
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library While many people are probably already aware that the Central Library holds a great many maps relating to Leeds and Yorkshire (those who aren’t are advised to view this Research Guide for more details), a lesser-known part of our Map Collection relates to maps of England…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 