We welcome back researcher Danny Friar this week, to mark a very important anniversary: 190 years since the emancipation of enslaved people in the British Caribbean colonies. After reading Danny’s article, be sure to catch the Beyond the Bassline: 500 years of Black British Music exhibition currently on display at the Reginald Centre. On the…
Category: Historical Figures
Under the Microscope: Part 3
Library and Digital Assistant Heather Edwards returns for the final part of her trilogy on LGBT+ pioneers in the medical field. You can see all three parts of this series elsewhere on the blog. Dr James Barry Now, Dr James Barry is a bit of a contentious figure to include here, as over the years…
Under the Microscope: Part 2
We welcome back Library and Digital Assistant Heather Edwards for a sequel to a recent article looking at LGBT+ pioneers in the medical field….Look out for part 3 coming later this week as well. Way back in LGBT+ History Month, after looking at Dr Sophia Jex-Blake (first practicing female doctor in Scotland and a pioneer…
Leeds veterans of the American Civil War (Part 2)
This week we welcome back Library and Digital Assistant Joey Talbot for the second part of his illuminating account of American Civil War veterans buried in Leeds… In the previous post, I told of how I was put onto the trail of Leeds veterans of the American Civil War after an email from Andrew Hopkinson…
Leeds veterans of the American Civil War (Part 1)
As part of Armed Forces Day month, Library and Digital Assistant Joey Talbot brings us the fascinating story of American Civil War veterans buried in Leeds… This is the first part of this article – you can find part two here Back in March, we received an email about gravestone inscriptions at Leeds General Cemetery…
The Chimney Corner: Secret Books from the Secret Library #8 – Chronicles of Crime
Number #8 in an occasional series, this week we hear from Librarian Antony Ramm about a criminally little-known autobiography by a notorious member of the French underworld… We’ve praised the Public Domain Review website before on the Secret Library Leeds blog – if you’re not already a reader, we strongly recommend you sign up to…
I Was Here: Diversity In Medieval Yorkshire
This week we welcome back Danny Friar, one of our most popular guest authors, who offers a sequel to his important previous work looking at hidden, underwritten and marginalised histories in Georgian Yorkshire… It has been around a year since I last contributed as a guest author on the Secret Library Leeds blog so I…
The Wickham Family
This week we hear from Library and Digital Assistant Kirsty Lodge, on an intriguing discovery that wasn’t a discovery, but which turned out to be another discovery entirely – leading to some inspired cross-departmental working… When departments collide! Sometimes the most interesting discoveries, come about because of chance, coincidence, or serendipity. When the Music department…
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