As part of our ongoing Armley Treasures series, librarian Helen Skilbeck looks at the early history of the West Leeds Boys High School. This is a companion piece to the West Leeds Girls High School blog post of August 2020 by Josh Flint. The school opened in September 1907 and was ‘planned not as a…
Category: Social History
The Lost Streets project goes live
Funded by a Jane Moody Scholarship, University of York PhD researcher Joanne Harrison has collaborated with Leeds Central Library’s Local and Family History department and Leeds Museums and Galleries to deliver five online workshops, a new website resource (bit.ly/loststreetsleeds) and a display for the Abbey House Museum. She reports here on the activities of the…
The Chapeltown Uprising of 1981 – commemorating and investigating
This week sees the 40th anniversary of the uprising in Chapeltown, where the weekend of 11/12th of July saw social unrest around Roundhay Road and Chapeltown Road. This coincided with other protests that year in Brixton, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham as well as smaller uprisings in Bradford, Halifax and Hull. Leeds Libraries, West Yorkshire Archives,…
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Heritage Month
As June ends and we say goodbye to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Heritage month, Senior Librarian Louise Birch takes a look at what our Local History collections hold regarding West Yorkshires 7,000 strong Gypsy & Traveller community. “In many cases Gypsies are invisible in the usual records” Freda Matthews, Gypsies in Leeds Local History (in…
Assimilation and Integration: The Experiences of the Jews of Leeds 1851 to 1861
This week’s article is written by Sophia Lambert, a BA History student at Leeds Beckett University. Sophia utilised the books and resources in the Local and Family History department as part of her research on the Jews of Leeds between 1840-1920. The official date given to mark the establishment of the Leeds Jewish communities is…
Early Maps of Leeds: Power and Control
This week Librarian Antony Ramm analyses some early maps of Leeds. This article is based on a recent talk given by Librarians in the Local and Family History department; it draws in part on two previous articles on this site A MAP OF ROTHWELL, OULTON AND LOFTHOUSE, MADE IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII (1531)Our…
The Black Freedom Struggle in Nineteenth-Century Leeds
On the Secret Library this week we hear from guest author Dr Hannah-Rose Murray from the University of Edinburgh. Hannah-Rose will be discussing her new book entitled African American Narratives and Speeches which will published in 2022. During the nineteenth-century, African American freedom fighters and survivors of U.S. chattel slavery made radical and politicized journeys across…
My next book, Jobs for the Girls – and why I would love your help with it
This week we hear from author Ysenda Maxtone Graham, who is requesting reader-assistance with a fascinating new book project… My previous two books have been about British childhoods. In Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls’ Boarding Schools, 1939-1979, I wrote about the extraordinary lost world of those female establishments in the days of lino corridors,…
