by Rhian Isaac, Collections Manager, Leeds Central Library “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – Neil Gaiman During Library Fest in February we delivered an array of fairy tale related events from children’s theatre performances to film…
Author: Leeds Libraries
Reading Around the Histories of Leeds
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library “In a nutshell, historiography is the history of history” – and because everything has a history (both objectively and subjectively), everything also has a history of those histories: that is, a historiography. Leeds is no different. In fact, in some ways, Leeds is more blessed than many other…
“We Smile”: A Curious Donation of Photographs
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library We recently received a new addition to our collections: a photograph album featuring images of holidays in the North of England during 1920 and 1921. The album was donated to us in the hope we could identify the people depicted in the photos and then –…
The English Civil War in Yorkshire
by Josh Flint, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Did you know that the some of the defining events of the English Civil War occurred in Yorkshire? The Local and Family History department has researched and created a new information leaflet chronicling the role of Yorkshire during the Civil War. The leaflet details a…
Burial Records – An Introduction
The article below was originally published in 2017. It has been lightly-edited to fit our 2020 series exploring family history resources for beginners. This Saturday 25 March, our Local and Family History department will have a stall at the Be Curious festival at the University of Leeds. We were kindly invited by the Brotherton Library’s Special…
A History of Jewish Theatre in Leeds
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library. Milim 2017, the second Festival of Jewish Words for All in Leeds, is currently in full swing, and the diverse programme of events has so far included a Jewish History in Leeds workshop at Central Library last Tuesday. Among the many materials we shared with our…
Speed-dating our Library Treasures II: Small Books and Big Ideas
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library You may recall that, during our 2016 Library Fest programme, we trialled a new event: Speed-date our Library Treasures. Put simply, this was an opportunity for the public to engage with a wide range of some of our most interesting and unique stock items, all curated by…
Who Led Leeds? Case Study #1: Maud Dightam
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library This article also forms #3 in our occasional People of Leeds series – a celebration of lesser-known contributors to the Leeds story. Many readers will be familiar with the name and the achievements of Alice Bacon, the first woman elected as an MP in Leeds. And…
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