Coasts Between

This week on the Secret Library Leeds we bring you a snapshot of a unique treasure held as part of our Special Collections: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer’s A description of the sea coastes of England between Burnham & Scarborough….This wonderful sea chart was shown to the public during our Local and Family History open day in…

Heritage Open Days 2025

This week we take an in-depth look at events at Leeds Central Library during the Heritage Open Days Festival 2025. Local History Open Day Running on Saturday 13 September, 11.00am – 2.00pm in the Local and Family History Library, the Open Day is a chance for librarians to exhibit some of our most cherished and…

Reading the city: Leeds City Council papers

This week on the Secret Library we are delighted to hear once again from Andy Armstrong, one of our heritage volunteers, on a significant piece of cataloguing work we’ve asked them to help us with. You can find more articles about the history of Leeds Libraries elsewhere on the blog… Hi. My name’s Andy Armstrong and I have…

A Voyage of Discovery 

To conclude this year’s ‘Routes – Networks – Connections’ themed Heritage Open Days, Senior Librarian for Special Collections and Heritage, Rhian Isaac, shares her journey into researching a special collection of photographs.   As lockdowns began to ease during the Covid pandemic, I was finally able to return to the Central Library to check on…

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…