This week on the Secret Library we have an article from guest writer Dr Robert Vernon, who explores the Hunslet engineering company, Hathorn, Davey and Company, Limited. Robert will be releasing his new book, A history of Hathorn, Davey and Company, Limited (1872 to 1936) which will be published later in 2020. Hathorn, Davey and…
Category: Leeds History
The Glory of Goad Maps
In the blog this week, Librarian Helen Skilbeck looks at some beautiful but underused maps in our collection – Goad maps. This piece forms part of our series of articles exploring resources relevant to family history research. In the Local and Family History Library there are hundreds of maps – maps of Leeds, maps of…
West Leeds Girls’ High School Jubilee Magazine
This week’s Secret Library Heritage Blog article has been written by Local and Family History’s Josh Flint and will be the first in a new series. This new series will be on treasures from the Local and Family History collection about Armley. This first Armley treasure is the 50th Jubilee of the West Leeds Girls;…
LGBT+ Leeds: A Brief History in Photographs
A heritage project called West Yorkshire Queer Stories recently spent two years interviewing LGBT+ people across the region in order to find out more about local queer history. The result is a new website packed with information and anecdotes reaching back to the 1950s, at wyqs.co.uk. Project worker Ross Horsley has picked out some of…
Family History Resources: Military Records
This week on the Secret Library we hear from Local and Family History’s Josh Flint, who will be exploring the incredibly useful family history resource, military service records. This article will explore what military service records are, how to access them and how they can be useful for your own family history research. Military personnel records…
The Theatrical Life of Tate Wilkinson
On the Secret Library this week we have a article from guest writer Dominique Trigg, the creator of Some Sources Say, who has written about the fascinating life of Tate Wilkinson, an Eighteenth Century pioneer of Leeds Theatre. If you would like to read more excellent articles from Dominique then you should visit Some Sources…
Harry Croft Scrapbook
This week on the Secret Library, we hear from Library Officer Karen Downham, on a fascinating piece of Leeds social history – with an intriguing connection to a Second World War hero… For the last couple of months I have been tackling a project on the Scrapbook of Harry Croft, Secretary of Leeds St Mark’s…
Family History Resources: Historical Trade Directories
This week on the Secret Library we hear from Local and Family History’s Josh Flint, who will be exploring the excellent family history resource, historical trade directories. This article will help family history researchers understand what trade directories are, how they can be useful for family history research and finally where to find them. This…
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