As part of the Trivial Pursuits project, which has been put in place to celebrate Leeds 400, the library put on a series of ‘Treasures Showcases’ for each of the Trivial Pursuit categories. In August, the themes were Geography and History and items from our Special Collections department were taken out to be displayed and…
Category: special collections
Treasure Handling Session – Entertainment, Arts and Literature
This week we welcome Kirsty to the Secret Library blog. Here she highlights a recent event at Leeds City Library that showcased some of our lesser seen items. From 25 July – 30 August 2026 Leeds was transformed into a giant board game to celebrate a landmark moment in its history. People were encouraged to…
Leeds 400 library events and activities
To coincide with our new exhibition, Leodis: 400 years of Leeds in the Leeds Libraries Collection, which runs from Wednesday 16 September – Wednesday 11 November, Leeds Libraries are hosting a wide variety of workshops and events. All events are free but must be booked in advance. Maud Hummerston: the Storyteller of Leeds, Thursday 17…
LEODIS: 400 Years of Leeds
Discover 400 years of Leeds’ history through the inspiring collections of Leeds Libraries – from 17th century manuscripts to football fanzines, via rare maps, photographs, film footage, memoirs, newspapers, pamphlets, and, of course, books. Explore some of the city’s richest treasures and learn more about how Leeds Libraries have preserved historically significant archives for past,…
Library Connections with Historic Houses of Leeds
This week Library and Digital Assistant Rosaleen explores Leeds’ iconic historic houses and the perhaps lesser known items in our library collections related to them. Leeds is graced with beautiful historic houses and stately homes, all with a rich and interesting history. Although it is the West Yorkshire Archive service that holds estate papers and…
Coasts Between
This week on the Secret Library Leeds we bring you a snapshot of a unique treasure held as part of our Special Collections: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer’s A description of the sea coastes of England between Burnham & Scarborough….This wonderful sea chart was shown to the public during our Local and Family History open day in…
A Selection of Botanical Treasures
Here at Leeds Central Library, we recently hosted a treasure handling workshop to show off a few more of our botanical items that we could not fit in our current exhibition – Unearthed: The Power of Gardening – at Leeds Central Library until 29 October 2025. First up was Flora Londinensis by William Curtis. This…
The man who turned into a moss: The botanical exploits of Richard Spruce
In connection with the ongoing Unearthed exhibition at Leeds Central Library, here’s a sneaky look at the backstory of a Yorkshire botanist whose passion for plants led him far and wide, touching on the worlds of science and medicine, empire and gardening. We then peek into his connections to one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs…
