As we creep ever nearer to Halloween we thought it only right to regale you with a few spooky tales from a certain scrapbook in our collections. Known colloquially by staff as the ‘ghost scrapbook’ and more officially as ‘Ghost Stories and Weird Experiences, Life after Death etc.’, it forms Volume 37 of the Edwin…
Category: exhibitions
Heritage Open Day 2024: What’s in a Name?
To mark the upcoming Heritage Open Day Week (6-15 September 2024), Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill brings us some fantastic detective work in our Central Library archives to (re)discover the site of a long-forgotten mansion in the centre of Leeds… Join us on Saturday September 7 in the Central Library’s Local and Family History…
Fantasy: Realms of Imagination and Leeds Libraries Special Collections
On this week’s Secret Library Heritage Blog, we hear from Librarian Josh Flint who will be exploring a few of his favourite special collection items from the Leeds Central Library’s Fantasy exhibition which was inspired by The British Library’s Fantasy: Realms of Imagination. The exhibition will be ending on the 17th January so make sure…
Brigandines
This article is part of our series on the current Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibition, taking place at the Central Library until January 2024… There are lots of exciting things to discover in the Local and Family History department at any time, but if you visit during the Fantasy exhibition, it’s even more exciting! Amongst…
Tolkien in Leeds: Back again
In this short article, Librarian Antony Ramm explores a small but valuable addition to our collection of Tolkien-related materials at Leeds Central Library. This article is part of our series on the current Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibition, taking place at the Central Library until January 2024… As most people probably know, legendary fantasy author…
Taking inspiration from Terry Pratchett
In this article Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill points us towards some sources of Terry Pratchett’s creativity in the Central Library collections. This article is part of our series on the current Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibition, taking place at the Central Library until January 2024… You can’t talk about fantasy without talking about…
Fantasy: Realms of Imagination
Our new exhibition, inspired by Fantasy: Realms of Imagination at the British Library opened in November and aims to bring a bit of magic to Leeds Central Library over the cold winter months, before touring to community libraries across the city. The beautiful grade II* listed building with its winding staircases and heraldic beasts lends…
Any work that wanted doing
This week we hear once again from artist Gill Crawshaw, who has been delving into the Central Library archives to uncover the hidden history of disability and West Yorkshire’s textile heritage. The article is published to mark the start of UK Disability History Month, which begins on November 18. An exciting exhibition of new artwork is on at…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 