Following Lauren Stead’s article in May, we now welcome MA student Xuan Li for a further exploration of the Central Library’s Spark Collection… Over the past few months, I’ve had the chance to work on a short-term archive project at Leeds Central Library, exploring the fascinating Spark Collection. This archive is named after Frederick R….
Category: Social History
Marching Online Together
This week we welcome Claire Warwick and John Boocock for some hidden history drawn from the annals of Leeds United fan culture. Claire and John will be speaking about the same subject at a talk on Monday July 7 – tickets are still available so please come along if you want to hear more. The…
‘The List’: Statto Edition
Part III of heritage volunteer Pete Slater’s trilogy of articles based on his research into football fanzine history. You can hear Pete talk about that research at a research showcase coming up on June 26 – part of the programme for the Voice of the Fans exhibition, a co-production from Leeds Libraries and the British Library. You can also browse the full…
Carnivals, Fairs, Shows, Festivals, Feasts and associated Parades in West Yorkshire
This week we hear from Library and Digital Assistant Kirsty Lodge, with a deep-dive into the traditions and heritage of festivities in our region… By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes… Ray Bradbury uses this quotation from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to describe the mix of excitement and fear evoked by the arrival…
Football Fanzines: Creating ‘The List’
Part II of heritage volunteer Pete Slater’s trilogy of articles based on his research into football fanzine history. You can hear Pete talk about that research at a research showcase coming up on June 26 – part of the programme for the Voice of the Fans exhibition, a co-production from Leeds Libraries and the British…
Football, fanzines and the media today
This week from heritage volunteer Pete Slater, who brings us part I of three articles exploring his research into the rich history of football fanzine culture. You can hear Pete talk about that research at a research showcase coming up on June 26 – part of the programme for the Voice of the Fans exhibition,…
Municipal Bedrooms
This week Antony Ramm takes a brief tour around the bedrooms of Leeds… I was recently playing around with the Pot Luck feature on our Leodis image archive (www.leodis.net) to find inspiration for a blog article. (Do try the Pot Luck tool if you’ve not used it before!) One image that instantly stood out of…
Why The Golden Beam?
This week we welcome back Library and Digital Assistant Jan Pinder, who finds the answer to a question in the artistry of a local legend… Why was the newest Wetherspoons in Leeds named The Golden Beam? Opened on June 8 2021 it seems a curious name choice for a pub, particularly considering that many of…