The Leeds Savage Club: A Brief History

This week on the Secret Library, we hear from Karen Downham in our Local and Family History department, who looks at the Leeds Savage Club, a group active in the early 1900s, and whose members had a strong influence on the city of Leeds, and beyond.  January 2020: Since the publication of this article, Karen…

My week in the Local and Family History Department

This week we hear from Thomas Wootton, from Leeds Trinity University, who as part of his work experience spent a week in the Local and Family History Department. As part of my degree in History and Politics from Leeds Trinity University, I was required to undertake a work placement and I decided to undertake part…

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…

Yorkshire Battles: Battle of Wakefield, 1460

This week Josh Flint from the Local and Family History Department will be using the new Research Guide on Yorkshire Battles to examine the fascinating Battle of Wakefield in 1460 which saw the death of Richard, Duke of York and has been argued to have changed the course of English History while also highlighting the exceptional items…

The English Civil War in Yorkshire

by Josh Flint, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library Did you know that the some of the defining events of the English Civil War occurred in Yorkshire? The Local and Family History department has researched and created a new information leaflet chronicling the role of Yorkshire during the Civil War. The leaflet details a…

Burial Records – An Introduction

  The article below was originally published in 2017. It has been lightly-edited to fit our 2020 series exploring family history resources for beginners.  This Saturday 25 March, our Local and Family History department will have a stall at the Be Curious festival at the University of Leeds. We were kindly invited by the Brotherton Library’s Special…

A History of Jewish Theatre in Leeds

by Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library. Milim 2017, the second Festival of Jewish Words for All in Leeds, is currently in full swing, and the diverse programme of events has so far included a Jewish History in Leeds workshop at Central Library last Tuesday. Among the many materials we shared with our…

A Giant, Grade II* Listed Work of Art

By Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, and Adam Barham, Art Library, Leeds Central Library For this year’s Library Fest, we decided to create a tour of the beautiful Leeds Central Library that reimagined the building as a huge work of art. Looking to its many and varied architectural features for inspiration, we drew on the works of…