To mark the refurbishment of Morley Library as Morley Community Hub, Assistant Community Librarian, Helen Thomson, presents a brief history of the Saint Mary’s-in-the-Wood Church of Morley. This article is based on a local history zine that Helen has previously created – that zine is reproduced below, along with some photographs of the Church, as…
Author: Leeds Libraries
The Deaf Community of Leeds: A Partial History
This week on the Secret Library, Librarian Antony Ramm looks at books or other printed objects held at the Central Library, all highlighting different aspects of the Leeds deaf community’s story. The early 19th-century As seen in reports held at the Central Library, children Leeds were pupils at the Yorkshire Institution for Deaf and Dumb Children…
‘Sundry Articles of Queens or Cream-Colou-r’d Earthen-Ware’ – The Leeds Pottery Books
Adam Barham, Assistant Librarian Manager in the Art Library, takes a look at our collection of rare Leeds Pottery Books… Leeds Central Library houses several rare volumes relating to the Leeds Pottery Company. These include the Design, Drawing & Pattern Books and another set of volumes entitled ‘Designs of Sundry Articles of Queens or Cream-Colou-r’d…
Yorkshire Battles: Battle of Wakefield, 1460
This week Josh Flint from the Local and Family History Department will be using the new Research Guide on Yorkshire Battles to examine the fascinating Battle of Wakefield in 1460 which saw the death of Richard, Duke of York and has been argued to have changed the course of English History while also highlighting the exceptional items…
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…
‘Xmas at the Libraries’
This week Assistant Librarian Manager of Local and Family History, Sally Hughes, takes a look back at festive performances gone by in Leeds Libraries. ‘Children who attend the “Story half-hours” in the Leeds Public Libraries are preparing for extra jolly programmes…’ During the mid to late 1920s Leeds Libraries saw a huge increase in…
Tracing the Belgian Refugees
This week we hear from Dr. Philippa Read, Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Culture and Societies at the University of Leeds, on a new family history database from the Universities of Leeds and Leuven… *Please note the Tracing the Belgian Refugees database is currently offline. It is hoped that it will be accessible…
Yorkshire Star Chamber Stories
This week, Collections Manager Rhian Isaac explores the importance and the usefulness of stories from the Yorkshire Star Chamber in the Tudor era… The lives and exploits of the Tudor monarchs and nobility are well known and are often the subjects of films and TV shows but finding out about how every day people lived…
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