As part of a series examining family history resources for beginners, Librarian Antony Ramm explores the local map collection at Leeds Central Library and online, briefly showing how they can be used to support genealogical research… As well as being seriously fascinating in their own right, maps are one of the most important of what we…
Author: Leeds Libraries
The Mysterious Ms. Morgan
This week we hear from Ross Horsley, who introduces us to a curiously little-known crime novelist of the 1940s, whose best-known book has a Yorkshire connection… Back in the 1940s, at an isolated Yorkshire mansion, a murder took place that might have gone undiscovered were it not for the interventions of Dylis Hughes, a travelling…
Windrush Day 2020
On this day in 1948 the troopship Empire Windrush arrived at the port of Tilbury, England, after a journey that began at that same place before visiting Southampton (to collect troops) and then taking in stops at Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, Cuba and Bermuda. On board were at least 1,027 people (according to the passenger list),…
A Victorian Catering Ledger
This week, Librarian Helen Skilbeck takes a look at an unusual piece of Leeds’ history: Godfrey Wood’s Victorian Catering Ledger. Unassuming to look at but containing a goldmine of information, Wood’s Catering Ledger details events and banquets he catered for in the Victorian era, covering the period 1840s – 1870s. As well as detailing the…
Family History Resources: Newspaper Microfilms and Online Newspaper Databases
As part of a series examining family history resources for beginners, Local and Family History’s Josh Flint takes an in-depth look at one of the most useful resources for your family history research: online newspapers databases. This article will discuss how Leeds Libraries members can use multiple newspaper databases online and then show in detail how to…
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…
Record YOUR History: Covid Diaries
Leeds Libraries is partnering with CEG, Leeds City Council, Leeds Libraries, Leeds Museums & Galleries and Child Friendly Leeds on the Covid Diaries project – an attempt to record and capture the daily reality of life in Leeds during lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic more widely. Entries will form a permanent historical record and archive….
Crime and Punishment on Ancestry
As part of a series examining family history resources for beginners, librarian Helen Skilbeck takes an in-depth look at one of the most useful resources for continuing your family history research: records of crime and punishment. As well as the most popular collections of birth, marriage and death records, Ancestry hosts some fascinating databases covering…
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