The latest in an occasionally-regular series exploring books and other items selected from our vast collections. In this entry Librarian Antony Ramm looks at a language phrase book from the 18th-century and, in particular, one intriguing handwritten note… This week’s entry in the Chimney Corner series is what appears to be an 18th-century Latin-to-French phrasebook,…
Author: Leeds Libraries
Heritage Open Days 2023
Every September we get very excited about the Heritage Open Days festival, which this year runs from 8th – 17th September. This sees thousands of staff and volunteers across England organise events to celebrate our fantastic history and culture. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE…
The Chimney Corner: Secret Books from the Secret Library #6
The sixth in a newly-regular series exploring books and other items selected from our vast collections. In this entry Librarian Antony Ramm looks at an intriguing work of natural history from the late-18th century… This is an interesting volume, one whose full title according to our catalogue entry is The Natural History of the Frog…
Tea & Entertainment in the Matthewman Collection
Library Assistant Becky Bavill introduces us to the Matthewman Collection in the Local & Family History Library. This card is part of the Matthewman Collection (SR Q 942.75 35449659). Alfred Earnest Matthewman was born in 1868. He was a solicitor who also worked as part of the Town Clerks Office in Leeds. An active member…
The Leeds Mercury: Making the news, but not yet as we know it
This week we hear from regular guest contributor Tony Scaife, who has been exploring the history of an important local news publication… Leeds’ had two newspapers – the Leeds Mercury and the Leeds Intelligencer – for most of the 18th century. I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with the Local and Family…
A Brief History of Leeds #10: The Post-War City, part 1
Part ten of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Our last entry in this series took a brief look at the life and times of Maud Dightam, pioneering political activist and…
The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
This week librarian, Helen Skilbeck, takes a closer look at one of the printed and online resources available to Leeds library users. The Yorkshire Archaeological Society (YAS) began in 1863 – their aim was “the examination, preservation and illustration of the History, Architecture, Antiquities, Manners, Customs, Arts and Traditions of the county of York…”. To…
Journeying Through Time: Unveiling Leeds’ Transport Heritage from the Archives
This week on the blog we hear from volunteer Andy Armstrong, who has travelled through literally thousands of items in our collections to bring you this article… Hi – my name’s Andy Armstrong and I joined the library as a volunteer last autumn to help search through the vast collection of material produced by Leeds…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 