Heritage volunteer and guest blogger Tony Scaife looks back to 1920s Leeds, when the new word ‘robot’ had a somewhat different meaning… The robot army arrived in Leeds on Friday 16 March 1928. Readers will have to judge for themselves whether Councillor Turtington and the other members of the Leeds Highways Committee were prescient, deluded or…
Category: Leeds History
Stories, Songs and Proclamations
By Karen Downham, Local & Family History Library This week in the blog we will be looking at Broadsides, and exploring some of those in the Local & Family History Collection. A broadside, in its simplest definition, is a sheet of paper printed only on one side. They were often posters announcing events, proclamations, and advertisements,…
Illuminating the Rich History of “Light Night” in Leeds
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library No doubt most readers of our blog will be spending this evening enjoying one of the many wonderful art events happening around the city centre as part of the annual Light Night celebrations. And most readers will probably already be aware of how those celebrations started –…
Theatres Through Time: Tate Wilkinson
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library Leeds has a long and rich theatrical history, stretching back to at least 1722, when Ralph Thoresby noted, in his diary – and with some disapproval! – the appearance of a group of players in the town. The collections and books available in our Local and…
The Civil War in the Library
This week on the Secret Library we welcome back guest blogger Polly Clare-Hudson from the University of Leeds. Polly has previously written about a wonderful Shakespeare book in our collections but, in this article, turns her attentions to slightly-later events in 17th-century England… The English Civil War took place from 1642 to 1651, and was…
Back to the Berthas
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library The fastest route into the past, I always think, isn’t really a family tree, a faded photo, or even an old map. It’s a story. And stories are one thing we’re not short of in Local and Family History (or the library itself, for that…
Finding a Way to Relate to the Past: the Importance of Arndale Shopping Centres
By Ella Brown, Universty of York. Ella spent a week with us in Local and Family History recently, getting a taste of the kinds of research we undertake, in order to broaden her experience and contribute to her ongoing studies. One particular local landmark gave her a starting-point when it came to looking into our many collections……
Almhouses, Annotations and Murder: Spending Time with Parish Registers
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library The parish register – the list made in a church of the people who have been baptised, married or buried there – is one of the most useful tools for family history, especially for the period prior to the arrival of the civil registration process in 1837. They’re usually used to identify…
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