Before The Lord of the Rings, before The Chronicles of Narnia and before Game of Thrones came The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison – the pioneering Leeds-born fantasy author of the early 20th-century. This week on the Secret Library blog we hear from Library Officer Philip Wilde, who talks us through Eddison, his life in…
Novels That Shaped Our World
To tie in with the BBC 100 Novels That Shaped Our World list we have organised a series of events and workshops to inspire people to read some of the amazing books that feature on the list. Here are just a few examples from our collections that came to mind when we thought of four…
Leodis has upgraded to a new site
In our blog post this week, Senior Librarian-Manager Louise Birch introduces readers and users to our exciting relaunched Leodis photographic archive… After twenty something years of the old yellowy-beige colour scheme and Louis Le Prince video we are long overdue an upgrade. The existing Leodis software was becoming outdated and had we left it any…
The Other Project: Exhibition
The Other Project, co-ordinated by Third Year Fine Art student Mia Ferullo, is a collaboration between Leeds Central Library and York St John University’s second year students. The students were divided into four groups, each being given an issue of the Leeds Other Paper. With a combination of Fine Art, Photography and Illustration students, this…
Census – A Vital Family History Resource
Librarian Louise Birch takes a look at how the valuable role the census plays in genealogy. Every 10 years a national survey is undertaken to create a picture of the households and residents of the UK. This is the National Census, and this Sunday 21st March the next one is due to occur in England…
The Other Project: Chapter Four
The Other Project, co-ordinated by Third Year Fine Art student Mia Ferullo, is a collaboration between Leeds Central Library and York St John University’s second year students. The students were divided into four groups, each being given an issue of the Leeds Other Paper. With a combination of Fine Art, Photography and Illustration students, this…
Wartime Women in Leodis
This week we hear from Leanne Speight, student at Leeds Beckett University, who has been part of a team working on a fantastic new website looking at the ‘Leeds Blitz’ of 1941… I remember my Great Grandma telling me in passing about her work in a munition factory during the Second World War. It was…
People of Leeds #19: The Pioneering Life of Jessie Beatrice Kitson
On the Secret Library this week we hear from Local and Family History’s Josh Flint who in celebration of International Women’s Day writes about the first women to be Mayor of Leeds, Jessie Beatrice Kitson and examine how she is represented in the Local and Family History Collection. This pioneer was part of the famous…