This week we hear from Dr Kara McKechnie, lecturer in Dramaturgy at the University of Leeds who writes for us on Alan Bennett and Yorkshire. Alan Bennett’s Yorkshire is not one of beautiful countryside, proud civic architecture and quaint rows of red brick houses. In his memories, it is a landscape with very little colour…
Tag: lunchtime talks
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…
Yorkshire Cricket History
Librarian Antony Ramm takes a brief look at Cricket resources available in the Library… The Local and Family History department at the Central Library has a strong collection of books and other material relating to Yorkshire and Leeds’ sporting history, the best of which can be seen in our Sport in Leeds Research Guide –…
A Partial History of Leeds Central Library
This last Wednesday, to mark National Libraries Week, four of our Local and Family History team, plus one intrepid volunteer, delivered a talk offering a brief history of Leeds Central Library, primarily derived from material found in several volumes of news-cuttings covering public libraries in Leeds. So, this week on the Secret Library we offer…
Kelly – Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire
We believe this copy of the 1912 Kelly’s Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire to be our longest single-volume book. The 1912 Kelly’s Directory is just one in a large collection of such trade directories that the Local and Family History department holds – primarily for Leeds, but also covering the wider West Riding…
Up, Up & Away, in My Beautiful Balloon
Local History librarian, Antony Ramm, writes about a fascinating little diary held in the collections at the Central Library – and looks ahead to the latest in our Lunchtime Talk series… A recent search through our collections brought to light a most wonderful discovery: a small, handwritten diary for 1848, written by R.B. Harrison of…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 