On the Secret Library this week we hear from Local and Family History’s Josh Flint who will be delving into Thomas Wilson’s Transcription of the Yorkshire Domesday Book, 1748, and explore what the Domesday Book can tell us about Armley and the people who lived there in the 11th Century. This is part of a…
Category: Treasures & Discoveries
HOD 2020: Uncovering Hidden Nature with our Historic Herbals
The last in our trilogy of articles to tie in with the final few days of this year’s Heritage Open Days festival: Collections Manager Rhian Isaac shares some of our herbals that have been teaching people about plants and nature for hundreds of years… This year’s Heritage Open Days (September 11-20) has looked a little…
West Leeds Girls’ High School Jubilee Magazine
This week’s Secret Library Heritage Blog article has been written by Local and Family History’s Josh Flint and will be the first in a new series. This new series will be on treasures from the Local and Family History collection about Armley. This first Armley treasure is the 50th Jubilee of the West Leeds Girls;…
Muir Than Just a Copy: The Beautiful Reproductions of William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’
This week on the Secret Library Collections Manager Rhian Isaac tells us about another treasure that can be found in our special collections… This is one of the rare books in the collections that is really a pleasure to look at and read. William Muir’s reproductions of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (1885)…
A Victorian Catering Ledger
This week, Librarian Helen Skilbeck takes a look at an unusual piece of Leeds’ history: Godfrey Wood’s Victorian Catering Ledger. Unassuming to look at but containing a goldmine of information, Wood’s Catering Ledger details events and banquets he catered for in the Victorian era, covering the period 1840s – 1870s. As well as detailing the…
Local History Quiz #3 Treasures of the Local and Family History Library
This week Helen Skilbeck take you on a journey around some of the treasures of the Local and Family History Library in the form of a multiple choice quiz. Q1. In 1894 the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become King George and Queen Mary) visited Leeds to open part of the Yorkshire College….
Much More Than Books: Explorations in our Special Collections
This week, Philip Wilde explores some of the more unusual items held in our vast Collections. You can see a full display of the stock mentioned here outside the Information and Research department of the Central Library. The Special Collections here at Leeds Central Library comprises of some 17,000 items. The vast majority, of course,…
Fiftieth Anniversary of the Moon Landing Reminiscence Session
This week Local and Family History’s Josh Flint will discuss the Moon Landing Reminiscence event held at Horsforth Library to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon Landing. This event was designed for people who could remember the Moon Landing in 1969 to share their stories with children. To inspire inter-generational discussion with the guests…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 