You could be forgiven for thinking you’d seen a ghost roaming the corridors of Leeds Central Library today, however the dapper gentlemen in bowler hats and ladies in bustles walking down the stairs were actors filming a new adaptation of Vera Brittain’s ‘Testament of Youth’. This first instalment of Brittain’s memoirs covers the period of…
Author: Leeds Libraries
Early Theatre in Leeds
We have a lot of fantastic theatres and entertainment on offer in Leeds now but how did it all start? From our playbills collection you can get an idea of some of the earliest theatre entertainment. The first theatre was built in Leeds in 1771 prior to which Leeds had relied on travelling companies of…
International Women’s Day and Suffrage in Leeds
In celebration of International Women’s Day and the anniversary of a Leeds suffragette and socialist we are highlighting the Mary Gawthorpe collection and other Leeds Library Collections documenting women’s suffrage in Leeds. Born January 12th, 1881 in the Woodhouse area of Leeds, Mary Gawthorpe was the middle of 5 children to John and Anne, a…
Roll Up, Roll Up, the Circus Comes to Leodis
For those of you feeling like running away to join the circus take a look at the Leodis website, our photographic archive of Leeds, to see the circus visiting the city. First we have 1950s images of crowds flocking to the Bertrum Mills Circus big top on Woodhouse Moor, visible in the sky above is…
Remembering Barnbow during World War 1
This week we saw the return of a special item in our collections which had been out on loan to Lotherton Hall as part of their ‘Duty Calls’ exhibition. ‘Barnbow, No.1 (Leeds) National Filling Factory : a Short History and Record’ was compiled by R.H. Gummer, Chief Engineer in November 1918. The preface of the…
LGBT History Month and Goodbye Olympics
To commemorate February as LGBT Month and the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi we thought we’d delve deep into our Special Collections to bring back something from Russia with love. A French enlightenment writer, Voltaire’s 1763 ‘History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great’ vol. 1 begins with the Preface: “Who…
Valentine’s Day Casanova
Looking for a scandalous love affair this Valentine’s Day? Look no further than the Leeds Central Library Special Collections for ‘The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova written by himself now for the first time translated into English in twelve volumes’. Privately printed in 1894 the title page explains that ‘This Edition is strictly limited to 1000 numbered…
Alan Bennett on the Central Library
There is a romance to nostalgia. The fuzzy edges and dog-eared corners of our memories take us back to places we inhabited in our youth. Libraries are no different, especially when aged 129 years. Central Library holds many memories and not just those inside the books. In his 2011 ‘Libraries of a Lifetime’ article, author…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 