This week on the Secret Library, we hear from Library Officer Karen Downham, on a fascinating piece of Leeds social history – with an intriguing connection to a Second World War hero… For the last couple of months I have been tackling a project on the Scrapbook of Harry Croft, Secretary of Leeds St Mark’s…
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Wormald’s Yard, Commercial Court and Lower Briggate
On the Secret Library this week, we hear from Library Officer Karen Downham about another project on our Leodis archive of historical Leeds photos… I have recently been indexing for the Leodis website a set of photographs from the area on the eastern side of Briggate, to the south of Boar Lane, which had a…
Collingham Pageants
This week we hear from Library Officer Karen Downham, who explores a fascinating new addition to our Leodis archive of historic Leeds images… The Local & Family History Library often takes donations of photographs to go onto the Leodis online photographic archive (www.leodis.net), and as often happens when researching the background to images, the trail…
The Leeds Folk Festival
This week on the Secret Library we hear from Karen Downham, Library Officer at the Central Library. Although most music events are cancelled at the moment, Karen gives us a fascinating look back to an event that took place in the 1980s – explaining, along the way, how The Rolling Stones’ 1982 European Tour caused…
The Leeds Savage Club: A Brief History
This week on the Secret Library, we hear from Karen Downham in our Local and Family History department, who looks at the Leeds Savage Club, a group active in the early 1900s, and whose members had a strong influence on the city of Leeds, and beyond. January 2020: Since the publication of this article, Karen…
Marathon Running in Leeds: The History of the Leeds Marathon
by Karen Downham, Local & Family History Library After the amazing feat of distance runner Eliud Kipchoge, breaking the world record for the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, and 39 seconds, at the Berlin Marathon earlier this year, on 16th September, and as runners thoughts start to turn to training for…
The FRANK KIDSON Collection
by Karen Downham, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Frank Kidson was an English folksong collector and musical scholar. He was also an artist, writer and historian. He was born in Leeds in 1855 in Centenary Street, on the site of what is now Victoria Gardens. He was one of the founders of the…
Ballet Memories at The Grand Theatre
By Karen Downham, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library One of the best things about working in Local and Family History is the wide variety of topics that we can deal with, and not knowing what you will be asked on a day to day basis. It is always rewarding to help people find what they…
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