Today begins a two part article from guest author Agnes Leonowicz. Part II follows on Friday The Golden Wedding was a play written in 1910 for the City of Leeds School of Music by both Frank Kidson and Arthur Grimshaw, which was said to be to raise money for the Leeds Infirmary. The play…
The Public Benefit Boot Company
This week we welcome guest blogger Dave Bean, who has spent years researching and writing about the Public Benefit Boot Company, which had Northern and Southern divisions. He has recently donated his collection to Leeds Central Library and it can be found in the Local and Family History Library. Here he tells us about the…
Disabled Activists in the News
The last event in our programme accompanying the 2022 Breaking the News exhibition focused on how disabled people, in Leeds and around the UK, hit the headlines in the 1990s with some hard-hitting protests. At the event, Steve Graby of Leeds Disabled People’s Organisation talked to Gill Crawshaw and Ruth Malkin, who were both involved…
A Brief Tour of Roundhay St. John Church
This week’s article is by researcher Irfan Shah, who illuminates the hidden history of a local Church, one that deserves much wider recognition… One of the jewels in the Central Library’s crown is the wonderful and unique Boyne’s Grangerised History of Leeds (a ‘grangerised’ book is one that has been added to and illustrated ‘by…
The Mechanics’ Institute: Part III – “…In no small measure to contribute…to the advancement of the community.”
The third and final part in guest author Tony Scaife’s trilogy exploring the Leeds Mechanics Institute. All three articles were researched using books and other resources available in the Local Studies & Research department at Leeds Central Library. We had left the story of the Leeds Institute with the 1865 opening of the Cuthbert Brodrick-designed…
What about the workers?
Tony Harcup tells the story of how a group of Leeds journalists helped form the NUJ more than 100 years ago. News junkies, history buffs and anyone with even a passing interest in current affairs will find plenty to enjoy at the Breaking the News exhibition currently (2022) running in Leeds (at the Central Library…
Leeds Town Hall and the tradition of the ‘Civic Organ’
This week we have a guest blog post from the City Organist for Leeds, Darius Battiwalla, who tells us about the history of the organ in Leeds Town Hall. Even in a silent and empty hall, the organ in Leeds Town Hall demands attention as soon as you walk in. Like its cousins in Birmingham…
Quarry Hill Flats – The Memory of Place
This week we welcome Lou Bentley who has been developing a new website chronicling the history of the Quarry Hill Flats. She is keen to hear your memories of the flats so please contact her through her website if you have something to share. What remains of place after brick and glass, steel and concrete…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 