Our research and collection guides provide a curated introduction to the most interesting items held at Leeds Central Library. You’ll find links to many of these guides embedded in related blog articles, but this page is a convenient way to browse the full set. Please get in touch if you encounter any dead links.

COLLECTIONS
Treasures of the Leeds Central Library Updated for 2025
The Alf Mattison Collection (Leeds Historian)
The Gott Bequest (English gardening 1500-1800)
The Sanderson Collection (British, European and world fashions 1770-1960s)
The Thomas Wilson Collection (18th-century Leeds Antiquarian. This guide includes holdings available at other Libraries and Archives. See also the Leeds Antiquarian Collection guide)
Leeds Antiquarian Collection
The Leeds United Collection
Mary Gawthorpe Collection
The Reverend Bates Collection (Books about the Caribbean, held at the Reginald Centre in Chapeltown)

Leodis (over 70,000 digitised images of Leeds and its history)
Prints & Playbills (non-photographic images of Leeds and its past)

GENERAL HISTORY OF LEEDS
The History of Leeds
Bibliography of the Histories of Leeds
Maps of Leeds

ASPECTS OF LEEDS & YORKSHIRE HISTORY 
18th Century Leeds
19th Century Leeds politics
Education
The English Civil War in Yorkshire
First World War material at Leeds Central Library
Health and Hospitals in Leeds
Jewish Leeds
Leeds’ Black History
Leeds Savage Club
LGBT+ Leeds
Public Libraries of Leeds
Second World War material at Leeds Central Library
Sport in Leeds
The Tetley Family
Theatres in Leeds
Yorkshire Battles (7th – 20th-centuries)

PEOPLE OF LEEDS and YORKSHIRE
The Bronte Family
Frank Kidson (Folk music expert)
John Smeaton (18th-century Civil Engineer)
Ralph Thoresby (Leeds Historian. See also the Central Library’s Antiquarian Collection)
Voices from the Past (20th-century working-class autobiographies)
Women of Leeds

AREAS OF LEEDS
Armley
Barwick and nearby
Crossgates and area (LS15)
Harehills
Horsforth
Hunslet and Holbeck
LS6 (Headingley, Hyde Park, Meanwood, Burley & Woodhouse)
LS17 (Alwoodley, Bardsey, East Keswick, Harewood, Moortown, Shadwell)
Otley
Pudsey
Rothwell and District

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL PAPERS AND RECORDS
Transport (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)
Health (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)
Housing (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)
Public libraries (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)
Utilities (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)
Planning (For a full list of our holdings in this subject area, please see the stock spreadsheet)

HISTORY
The Battle of Waterloo (1815)
1914-1918: Contemporary Responses
The Beautiful Game: Books on Football History

ART
The Sanderson Collection (British, European and world fashions 1770-1960s)
Gothic Literature, Art and Costume
Leeds Pottery History
The Atkinson Grimshaw Collection (books and other material about the Leeds-born artist)
Art Library magazines and journals

SCIENCE & DISCOVERY
Arctic Exploration
The Supernatural
Women Explorers (includes some explorers with Yorkshire connections)
Psychoanalysis 

FAMILY HISTORY
African-Caribbean Family History
Ancestry
Birth, Marriage and Death
Burial Records
Census Records
House Histories
Irish Family Histories
Local and Family History (introduction to the Central Library department)
Online Resources for Family History
Parish Registers
Useful Information for Family Historians (e.g. important dates)
Wills and Divorces
World War I Family History
Your Family Archive (tips for creating a permanent archive of your family history)

EXHIBITIONS (archived articles relating to past exhibitions)
Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights