This week we hear from Jeanette B of the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery group about the life and achievements of an inspiring Leeds woman… Whilst researching and reading on the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery website I was very interested to find a gentleman buried in the Cemetery who was known as the ‘Blind…
Category: Social History
Banned books!
This week on the blog we share details of a lovely display curated by staff in our Business and Intellectual Property department (BIPC) for Banned Books Week 2023 (October 1 – 7), using some treasures from our Central Library collections. The display is available to view on the 2nd floor of the Central Library. This is the…
A Copper’s Eye: Tom Harper’s Leeds
This week we welcome guest author, Chris Nickson, who tells us about his new exhibition soon to be launched at Leeds Central Library. We generally think of a place as we see it now. That’s completely natural, it’s the way our brains work. But what we’re seeing is only today’s reality. Towns and cities are…
Opening the textile heritage of Leeds
We’re still recovering from our amazing but very-busy Open Day last Saturday, part of our Heritage Open Day (HOD) Week offer. We’ll be bringing you a full round-up of that day, and all our other wonderful HOD events in a few weeks – but today we can share a small snapshot of what we’ve been…
The Leeds Mercury: Making the news, but not yet as we know it
This week we hear from regular guest contributor Tony Scaife, who has been exploring the history of an important local news publication… Leeds’ had two newspapers – the Leeds Mercury and the Leeds Intelligencer – for most of the 18th century. I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with the Local and Family…
Journeying Through Time: Unveiling Leeds’ Transport Heritage from the Archives
This week on the blog we hear from volunteer Andy Armstrong, who has travelled through literally thousands of items in our collections to bring you this article… Hi – my name’s Andy Armstrong and I joined the library as a volunteer last autumn to help search through the vast collection of material produced by Leeds…
Uncover Football’s Legacy: Join Our Volunteer Team!
Are you a football enthusiast with a passion for uncovering the rich history and vibrant fan culture surrounding the beautiful game? Leeds Libraries has an exciting opportunity for you to be part of an extraordinary long-term project. In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can join our volunteer team and embark on a journey…
Heroic actions of a local man
This week on the Secret Library Leeds we hear from Becky Bavill, Library & Digital Assistant, on the aftermath of a 1950s tram accident – including a nice Keanu Reeves reference. In September 1952, the Leeds papers were full of a dramatic incident that had happened in Oakwood. An empty, driverless tram collided with a…
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