There’s still time to catch the eighth British Art Show at Leeds Art Gallery until 10 January 2016, but be sure to check the Christmas opening hours if you’re planning a festive visit! By Adam Barham, Art Library. Every five years the British Art Show presents a selection of the UK’s most visionary and exciting artwork. Since…
An Armley Ghost Story for Christmas
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library “The ghost that turns up, annually, on the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve is largely the invention of Charles Dickens and his imitators in fiction. But ghosts do prefer to visit their familiar haunts on dark winter nights – and, for some, Christmas appears…
“Large, loose, baggy monsters”: On Reading Really Long Books Through Winter
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library “Winter is coming”, they say. Well, it’s not just coming—it’s here. And, while Winter may be cold and dark and seemingly never-ending, the upside is that these characteristics surely make Winter the very best time of year to really indulge the yearning common to all readers:…
The Dutchman’s Leetle Dog: A Surprising Tale
by Gilly Margrave, Music and Performing Arts, Leeds Central Library When I was very small, small enough for grown-ups to be able to distract me by singing funny little songs, I remember my great aunt Ethel singing a song about a little dog which was lost. Aunt Ethel had been a teacher for all her…
Unexpected Perspectives #5
by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library There are plenty of reasons to visit the Carriageworks Theatre on Millennium Square this month, the main one being that their production of Aladdin, the city’s only traditional pantomime, begins on Friday and runs right through to 9 January. Another reason is to take advantage of…
Folk Hero: Frank Kidson
by Karen Downham, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Earlier this month, Leeds Central Library hosted Kidson Day, an event celebrating the folk song collector Frank Kidson, his legacy to Leeds and his significant contribution to the world of music and folk song. Visiting artists Pete Coe and Alice Jones had been researching, learning…
Takeover Challenge 2015
As Part of the 2015 Takeover Challenge Day we invited Carr Manor Primary School Year 4 pupils to take over our heritage blog post for the day. We gave them a tour of the building and the department resources, so now it’s over to Caitlin, Harry, Safa and John to tell you what they found…
#explorearchives: A Tale of One Manuscript and Two Lords Irwin
by Gilly Margrave, Music and Performing Arts, Leeds Central Library One of the rarest items in the archive of our Music and Performing Arts Library has to be the manuscript of a Cantate di Camera à Voce Sola written by Giuseppe Montuoli of Lucca and dedicated to “Signor Milord Eduardo Irwin and dated 1706. This refers to…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 