To mark the start of the 2021-22 Premier League season this weekend our article this week is part one of a four-part series exploring the history of Leeds United, as told through books and other materials held at the Central Library. You can find all of the parts in our dedicated Sport page and all…
Category: Child Friendly
Paintings of Burley
This week on the Secret Library we hear from guest author Jonathan Hooper. Jonathan is an incredible painter, who is here to share some of his paintings of Burley and the inspirations behind them. You can see more of Jonathan’s artwork and process on his website. I am a painter – my subject is the…
A Brief History of Leeds #2: The 16th-century
The second in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We ended the last entry in this series by commenting that 15th-century Leeds “clearly had some developing to do,” given…
A Brief History of Leeds #1: The 15th-century
The first in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We start our story some 500-years ago in the 15th-century, at Kirkstall Abbey, established by pioneering Cistercian monks in 1152…
Wartime Women in Leodis
This week we hear from Leanne Speight, student at Leeds Beckett University, who has been part of a team working on a fantastic new website looking at the ‘Leeds Blitz’ of 1941… I remember my Great Grandma telling me in passing about her work in a munition factory during the Second World War. It was…
People of Leeds #19: The Pioneering Life of Jessie Beatrice Kitson
On the Secret Library this week we hear from Local and Family History’s Josh Flint who in celebration of International Women’s Day writes about the first women to be Mayor of Leeds, Jessie Beatrice Kitson and examine how she is represented in the Local and Family History Collection. This pioneer was part of the famous…
Searching for Alice Mann
As part of our series for International Women’s Day, librarian Antony Ramm lays out the path that took him to one of his favourite women of Leeds: Alice Mann… I first came across the name of Alice Mann (1791-1865) while reading Derek Fraser’s collection of articles in Volume 53 of the Publications of the Thoresby…
Rediscovering the Lost Streets of Victorian Burmantofts and Sheepscar
Funded by a Jane Moody Scholarship, University of York PhD researcher Joanne Harrison is collaborating with Leeds Central Library’s Local and Family History department and Leeds Museums and Galleries to deliver five online workshops. She reports here on this exciting project that will bring an improved experience to users of the Leodis archive, and a…
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