The Other Project: Chapter One

The Other Project, co-ordinated by Third Year Fine Art student Mia Ferullo, is a collaboration between Leeds Central Library and York St John University’s second year students. The students were divided into four groups, each being given an issue of the Leeds Other Paper. With a combination of Fine Art, Photography and Illustration students, this…

The Story of Leodis – photographic archive of Leeds

Today’s post comes from Senior Librarian Manager Louise Birch who will take us back in time to explore the origins of the Leodis website, and what it was like to be an indexer of images. The year is 1999, Tony Blair is Prime Minister, Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ exhibits at the Tate, about 12 million…

Rediscovering the Lost Streets of Victorian Burmantofts and Sheepscar

Funded by a Jane Moody Scholarship, University of York PhD researcher Joanne Harrison is collaborating with Leeds Central Library’s Local and Family History department and Leeds Museums and Galleries to deliver five online workshops. She reports here on this exciting project that will bring an improved experience to users of the Leodis archive, and a…

People of Leeds #16: The Brothers Johnson, Swimmers Extraordinaire

A previous blog post took a look at the Cookridge Street Public Baths where the general manager and swimming instruction was Professor Peter Johnson. Today, librarian Helen Skilbeck takes a closer look at Johnson and his younger brother. This article forms #16 in our People of Leeds series. Peter and his brother John Baptist (J.B.)…

New Year, Old Leeds

An extremely brief snapshot of the New Year period through the last century in Leeds, culled from our Leodis archive of historical Leeds photos…

Have Yourself A Merry Library Christmas

This week we hear from Librarian Louise Birch, who will be sharing a very special Christmas Carol from the Local and Family History Department. “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Library not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” “The stockings were hung by the counter with care, in hopes that…

I am the merry-go-round horse dragging up the earth beneath me. Part 1

This week on the Secret Library we hear from Dr Charlotte Cullen. Charlotte, who is an artist, researcher, serf member and lecturer in Fine Art at York St John University, has been working with the Leeds Central Library Collections during lockdown with a focus on Armley to create newly inspired artwork. This project has been…

A Garden Through Time: Headingley Zoological and Botanical Gardens

This week on the Secret Library we hear from local artist Matthew Bellwood, who talks us through a fascinating interactive local history walk, which we were very honoured to contribute resources to, primarily from Leodis, our archive of historical Leeds images… A lost landmark of Leeds has been brought back to life in A Garden…