Dr. Alaric Hall will deliver a talk at Leeds Central Library on the 12th of October, using the Special Collections at the University of Leeds, to explore the scholarships and friendships made by J.R.R. Tolkien during his time (1920-1925) in Leeds, and how these affected his creative writing. Ahead of that talk, Local History Librarian,…
Category: Child Friendly
Up, Up & Away, in My Beautiful Balloon
Local History librarian, Antony Ramm, writes about a fascinating little diary held in the collections at the Central Library – and looks ahead to the latest in our Lunchtime Talk series… A recent search through our collections brought to light a most wonderful discovery: a small, handwritten diary for 1848, written by R.B. Harrison of…
The Owl on Woodhouse Moor
Bill McKinnon, local historian and activist, looks back over the life of the Woodhouse Moor Owl – a sculpture so mysterious, we can’t even find a photograph of it! “The Owl … will mount his pedestal today as an emblem of Leeds,” wrote John Lee in the Leeds Times on Saturday 14 April 1883. “The figure of the…
The Leeds Owl and the City Arms
Over the next few months we’ll be featuring several articles from guest blogger Kiera Falgate. Kiera is a student at the University of Leeds and has been using the books and other resources available in the Local and Family History department at the Central Library to find out more about some of Leeds’ most interesting heritage….
Once Upon a Time in Leeds Central Library
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…
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…
The Ghost Stories of Lord Halifax
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Last Monday, I accepted an invitation from Bob and Jacki Lawrence of the East Leeds History and Archaeology Society to speak at their monthly meeting, and decided to take along one of my favourite items from our Local History collection as my inspiration. Lord Halifax’s…
Sweeping Through Time
Two weeks ago, we let you in on some of the secrets of the Henry Collection in Oliver Twist with a Twist. This week it’s over to our two experts on the subject, Jonathan and Natascha, to share a few of their favourite finds. Did you know that Leeds Central Library holds extensive collections on the English…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 