We believe this copy of the 1912 Kelly’s Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire to be our longest single-volume book. The 1912 Kelly’s Directory is just one in a large collection of such trade directories that the Local and Family History department holds – primarily for Leeds, but also covering the wider West Riding…
Category: Social History
A Library at War: Leeds Central Library during WW2
Today we hear from regular guest author Mike Harwood, who tells the story of this building during the tumult of World War 2… ‘Tuesday, 31 October 1939: “Felt energetic so polished several floors and worked fairly hard. Tony came home to lunch at 1.30, and the afternoon somehow slipped away….Went to the library and got…
Yorkshire – owt or nowt?
Librarians Antony Ramm and Sally Hughes report on a Yorkshire-themed collections day school for arts students… This week the Central Library welcomed two groups of design students from the Leeds Arts University to explore our collections on the theme of Yorkshire. The aim was to inspire these young creatives to develop work that explored the subject…
Back-to-Back Houses, Harehills
University of York PhD researcher Joanne Harrison reports here on her research over the last year. The Local and Family History Library and My Research One aspect of my research that has been particularly interesting over the last year stems from my use of the Leeds directories held in the Local and Family History Library….
Leeds Rugby Research: Can You Help?
This week on the Secret Library we here from Peter Benson, of the Leeds Rugby Heritage Group, who are making a call for names and information about some early players of the game in Leeds… One of the Leeds Rugby Heritage Group objectives is to identify, record and research every person who has played for…
Arches of Loaf: The Royal Bread Structures of Leeds & Rothwell
Librarian Antony Ramm digests the strange stories of the weird & wonderful phenomena of the ‘bread arch’ in Leeds’ history… It’s doubtless a tenuous connection to make, but the recent wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle put us in mind of the many Royal visits to Leeds over the past years and centuries. Among…
The Monopoly Man in Leeds: Waddington Plc
University of Huddersfield history student and library volunteer Haaris Mahmood continues his series of articles for The Secret Library, by looking back over the achievements of the Waddington company in the first-half of the 20th-century… In recent years the evolution of gaming has proved to be revolutionary with many new platforms being established such as video games and virtual…
People of Leeds #2: Cedric Clarke
University of Huddersfield history student and library volunteer Haaris Mahmood continues his series of articles for The Secret Library, by looking back over the life of Cedric Clarke: Leeds’ first Councillor of African-Caribbean heritage. This is also the second entry in our occasional People of Leeds series, where we explore the lives and achievements of lesser-known…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 