Hello! I'm Niimi Day Gough, the Leeds Library's Collections and Archives Assistant. Since joining the Library in February of 2022 this year and taking on the job of cataloguing the archive's contents, our archive has struck me as something like a paper rainforest. Enterprising investigators have mapped it out before me, each uncovering a new species of jewel-like poisonous frog, but I still have copious acres to (enthusiastically) explore. This work mostly consists of contentedly whacking through exotic foliage (or, sifting through archive boxes comfortably at my desk). I do, however, often unearth my own fascinating specimens – and I’m delighted to push through the leaves and report my discoveries to you here at the Leeds Library base camp! I will be bringing my best findings here as an example of the range of treasures The Leeds Library holds, as and when I find them. To begin, I’m highlighting two correspondences.
Library complaints about buskers - 1883:
It seems that the Library has always found neighbours in Commercial Street buskers! In the first letter of July 1st, 1883, Leeds Police's Chief Clerk Frank Nard acknowledges receipt of two complaints about loud 'street musicians' from the Leeds Library. In the following letters from July 2nd, the Chief Clerk directs the librarian’s attention to a section of the 1842 Leeds Improvement Act, which mandates buskers ‘depart when desired to do so' on threat of a forty shilling fine. He even wrote out the pertinent section to send with the letter, pictured below. I found this correspondance on my first day working as Archive Assistant, and it was a wonderful introduction to how connected the Library is to its past. As any member or visitor would know, the Library is still frequently serenaded by the buskers outside Trinity shopping centre - for better and for worse!
Father-Daughter Book Requests - 1948:
This highlight comes in the form of a friendly letter to then-librarian Frank Beckwith from G. S. Bremner, dated November 1948. The two men were historians and collaborators, consulting on their various research projects and exchanging books. They were also both fathers, however, and in this correspondance Bremner laments his failures to get the correct Leeds Library books out for his daughter Juliet. Indeed, she views his efforts ‘with scorn and despisery’! Upon being presented with the Enid Blyton book he 'snaffled' from Beckwith for her, Bremner reports that:
'she looked at me rather as the late Professor Skeat might have looked at a kindly old lady who offered him a school edition of the Canterbury Tales’.
He then discusses some books he is meaning to return to Beckwith, but makes sure to enclose his daughter's carefully-penned list of book requests. Clearly, the Library has always attracted exacting academic types of all ages!
That's all for this Highlights - but I will be reporting back with more treasures soon! If you're interested in our archive materials or have any queries, feel free to contact me at day-goughn@theleedslibrary.org.uk. Our archive is open for research, for free, and I'd be delight to discuss its resources with you.
All images courtesy of The Leeds Library.