This week Librarian Antony Ramm offers a sequel to an article first published in 2017. Readers of this blog who are also readers of the Public Domain Review website (if you’re not, do think about subscribing; it’s a fantastic and always-intriguing look at long-forgotten printed texts) may have seen a short article by Hunter Dukes…
Category: Social History
Leeds & the Craft Beer Revolution
As part of our ongoing series of longer articles exploring stops on our Edible Leeds heritage Trail, Librarian Antony Ramm takes a look this week at the 20-year history of craft beer in Leeds… Leeds, of course, has a long and venerable history when it comes to brewing, stretching back to at least the brewery…
A reminder that you can’t find everything on Google
This week we hear from a previous Secret Library contributor, and now Library Heritage Volunteer, Tony Harcup, with a short but fascinating – and very important! – sequel to his earlier article… It was only after writing a Secret Libraries blogpost about the Yorkshire origins of the National Union of Journalists (https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2022/04/04/what-about-the-workers/) that I began…
Slavery in Yorkshire
This week on the blog we hear from Library Officer Ruairí Lewis about a heated debate between two leading local men in the early 19th-century… In 1830, the ‘Tory Radical’ Richard Oastler sent an open letter to the Leeds Mercury, owned and edited by prominent Leeds liberal Edward Baines (1774-1848), entitled ‘Slavery in Yorkshire’. Oastler…
The Bright Lights of Leeds
This week we welcome guest blogger Bryan Walters. Bryan is a keen historian and creates YouTube videos telling the history of Leeds. Here, with the help of Leodis, he tells us a little bit about life in Leeds. For six pence, at the end of the Victorian period, a working man could enjoy a Turkish…
National Volunteers’ Week 2022
This week (1-7 June) is Volunteers’ Week and we’re taking this opportunity both to thank our current volunteers and launch some new heritage volunteering opportunities Firstly a huge thanks to A, C, J and R for being excellent heritage volunteers. They all began pre Covid but have stuck with us through lockdowns and closures and…
A Brief History of the Leeds Jewish Community: Part I
Part 1 of a four-part series exploring the history of the Jewish community in Leeds. See our dedicated page for all entries in this series, plus other articles on related subjects. Today’s entry offers a short look at the community’s story, highlighting some useful sources for further exploration… There have been Jewish people in Leeds…
The Places We Live: Local History Collections Around Leeds
As part of Local and Community History Month, Librarian Antony Ramm briefly explores our local history collections stretching all around Leeds, and introduces a new guide to stock relating to Rothwell… As readers of this blog may already know, the Local and Family History department at the Central Library in Leeds houses a huge collection…
