Leeds Libraries

Takeover Challenge 2015

As Part of the 2015 Takeover Challenge Day we invited Carr Manor Primary School Year 4 pupils to take over our heritage blog post for the day. We gave them a tour of the building and the department resources, so now it’s over to Caitlin, Harry, Safa and John to tell you what they found…

#explorearchives: A Tale of One Manuscript and Two Lords Irwin

by Gilly Margrave, Music and Performing Arts, Leeds Central Library One of the rarest items in the archive of our Music and Performing Arts Library has to be the manuscript of a Cantate di Camera à Voce Sola written by Giuseppe Montuoli of Lucca and dedicated to “Signor Milord Eduardo Irwin and dated 1706. This refers to…

Unexpected Perspectives #4

by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Now that the remodeling work has finished on the new sandwich shop, Simply Eat, next-door to the traditional Headrow pub, the Horse and Trumpet, it’s safe to once again poke your nose through that rather arty circular gate to the rear of the City Varieties Music Hall….

Brrr! Warm Up with our Arctic Archives

by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those books that…

A Night of Fright!

by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Last Friday, after the doors closed and the last remaining customers were ushered out into a chilly autumn evening, thirteen brave souls remained behind to stalk the darkened halls of Leeds Central Library. It was the eve of Halloween, and the perfect night for our first…

Leeds Central Library – The Hallowe’en Files

by Sally Hughes, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library For a building almost 130 years old the walls of Leeds Central Library have many tales to tell. If you have visited or even seen photographs of this beautiful Victorian building you will know that there is a rich history to be explored inside. A…

Unexpected Perspectives #3

by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library We’re back causing trouble in city centre shops again this week, squeezing ourselves around an upstairs window display to get an elevated view of one of Leeds’s busiest retail routes, Briggate. You’ll need to ride the escalator or lift to the first floor of clothes shop…