Pablo is Coming!

Marking the end of Black History month this week we are sharing three playbills from our collections featuring Pablo Fanque, Britain’s first black circus owner. Born William Darby on 28th February 1796 in Norwich he joined the circus in 1810 as an apprentice to William Batty who owned a small travelling circus. He was known as…

Leeds Playbills

It would be a mistake to assume that the only treasures held by Local Studies libraries are all books. At Leeds Libraries our Playbills Collection is just one of our ‘non-book’ treasures. Comprising over 5000 items from the 1700s to 1998, the first record of the collection comes from the Book Purchasing Committee minutes, December…

National Volunteers’ Week 2022

This week (1-7 June) is Volunteers’ Week and we’re taking this opportunity both to thank our current volunteers and launch some new heritage volunteering opportunities Firstly a huge thanks to A, C, J and R for being excellent heritage volunteers. They all began pre Covid but have stuck with us through lockdowns and closures and…

A Garden Through Time: Headingley Zoological and Botanical Gardens

This week on the Secret Library we hear from local artist Matthew Bellwood, who talks us through a fascinating interactive local history walk, which we were very honoured to contribute resources to, primarily from Leodis, our archive of historical Leeds images… A lost landmark of Leeds has been brought back to life in A Garden…

Black History at Leeds Central Library

This week on the Secret Library blog we have chosen to highlight past articles exploring the rich legacy of Black communities, locally, nationally and internationally – as seen in the collections at Leeds Central Library. We shall be publishing more articles along these lines over the coming months, because we firmly believe #blacklivesmatter. A permanent…

Black History in Leeds

Series of articles exploring and highlighting Black history and heritage in Leeds, because we firmly believe #blacklivesmatter. More articles to follow – we also welcome submissions and ideas for future articles, as well as comments and corrections. Windrush Day 2020Short article exploring the arrival of the Empire Windrush at the port of Tilbury on June…