This week we are joined by two guest authors, Lucy M. Evans and Spencer Needs, who write about a little known poet from Leeds – Eliza Craven Green. Part 1: The Manchester Connection by Lucy M Evans On 24 March 1842 over forty people assembled at the ancient Sun Inn, Long Millgate, Manchester for a…
Tag: poetry
The Leylands in Poetry
We welcome local poet Sally Michaelson this week on the Secret Library Leeds, who offers some poignant poetry about the Jewish community of Leeds and the Leylands area of the city centre. We are publishing these poems as part of Local and Community History Month. We hope you enjoy these poems. You can find out…
Heritage Open Days 2023
Every September we get very excited about the Heritage Open Days festival, which this year runs from 8th – 17th September. This sees thousands of staff and volunteers across England organise events to celebrate our fantastic history and culture. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE…
Muir Than Just a Copy: The Beautiful Reproductions of William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’
This week on the Secret Library Collections Manager Rhian Isaac tells us about another treasure that can be found in our special collections… This is one of the rare books in the collections that is really a pleasure to look at and read. William Muir’s reproductions of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (1885)…
The Silent Traveller in the Yorkshire Dales
This week we hear from Library Officer, Will Poulter, on a surprising perspective of the Yorkshire Dales… One of the joys of working in the library is that sometimes I come across books that strike me, that I may never have known exist. This happened recently when I came across a modest journal by a Chinese…
Wo Wo Lol Lol: The Eccentric John Broughton
By Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library It’s often via interactions with customers that we come to appreciate the stories behind some of the treasures in our collections. One we’ve recently discovered a little more about – thanks to the correspondence of the author’s great-great-granddaughter – is the 1828 book, Poems; Moral, Sentimental and…
The Lady Tram-Conductor
Here’s a little insight into First World War-era Leeds for you today, in the form of a poem written by Burley resident Edward Carless, and dated 12 February 1916: The Lady Tram-Conductor: A Working Man’s Tribute Strange things happen in time of war; A lady now conducts the car! In uniform, so smart and trim, She’s…
Fragments of War: Quieter Voices
By Stuart Hennigan, Communities Librarian, and Ross Horsley, Local and Family History Library World War 1 is famous for its poetry. More than that of any other war in history, the poetry of World War 1 has determined our perception of the war itself. Most people have read, or at least heard of, such luminary war poets as…
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