This week Assistant Librarian Manager, Sally Hughes reflects on her chosen item for Speed Date a Library Treasure IV earlier in the year. As part of our most recent Speed Date a Library Treasure event I took along a little gem from our stacks; Hints and Observations Relative to the Prevention of Contagious Fever, By R.W….
Leeds and the Spanish Civil War
This week Local and Family History’s Josh Flint and Scott Ramsey – PHD Researcher, School of History, The University of Leeds – tell us about the exciting Exhibitions from the International Brigade Memorial Trust and the Basque Children of ’37 Association coming to the Leeds Central Library from the 19 March – 5 April. This…
The Ancient Art of Bookbinding
This week we hear from Library Officer, Philip Wilde, who highlights some amazing examples of bookbinding in the Central Library collections… The ancient art of bookbinding has been a craft for over 2,000 years. Originally the binding served the purely practical purpose of protecting the book however, book coverings were later to be seen as…
The Sheepscar Triangle – the Irish community in Leeds
This week, as part of Irish History Month, Librarian Helen Skilbeck looks back at some of the local haunts of the Irish community in Leeds and the specific importance of the Sheepscar triangle. 1968, bottom of Roundhay road. Sheepscar Library is in the back centre of the photo and the Pointer Inn is to the…
Women of Leeds
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2019 we are launching a new series using items from our collections to highlight the women and events that shaped Leeds. From the Barnbow Lasses of WWI and the Suffragettes that fought for a woman’s right to vote, to prominent and pioneering female politicians Alice Bacon, Maud Dightam and…
Jewish Leeds in the Central Library Collections: Jacob Kramer
A brief overview of an important Central Library collection relating to the history of the Jewish community in Leeds. The Jacob Kramer Collection This is a small selection of personal material belonging to Jacob Kramer, the influential Leeds-based artist. The box contains, among other items, a framed photograph of Kramer, taken by Hatley Bacon in…
Cross-dressing in Yorkshire
This week we welcome guest writer Lauren Wells, Post-Graduate Researcher at the University of Leeds, who explores the history and meaning(s) of cross-dressing in Yorkshire… My research examines men who cross-dressed in Yorkshire from the end of the nineteenth century until the eve of the Second World War. When I first conceptualised this project, I…
Double, double toil and trouble – What inspired the witches in Macbeth?
This week we hear from Collections Manager Rhian Isaac on some sources for Shakespeare’s witches… It’s a month until Shakespeare Week and to start getting people in the mood I have been bringing out some of our collections to explore why Shakespeare may have incorporated the supernatural into his plays. Monsters, fairies, witches, demons and…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 