This beautiful exercise book is a small donation that turned out to have a big history, both of its author and of the two sisters whose school it came from. It isn't often we get handed something that is truly unique but this is one of those circumstances. The sad tale of Elizabeth Ann

Just in time for Christmas, Local Studies brings you a tale of good deeds gone unrewarded, a distinct lack of human kindness, and Good Samaritan-ism coming back to haunt people. Who’s to say we aren’t festive folk in the library service? Never mind – the story here is of a stranger in a strange land

Whilst cataloguing a donation, kept in our Bookplate Pamphlet Box (P097) we came across a lovely bookplate from the personal library of...

The 16th January 2024 marks 100 years since Halifax elected its first woman Councillor – Miriam Lightowler. She was quite a character,...

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023 we are taking a look at women in business in the 19th century. You may have heard of...

Lovers of poetry will be familiar with William Wordsworth, and with at least fragments if not the entirety of his five “ Lucy Poems” and...

Model of Toothill Bank, Rastrick. Why is this model house on view at Rastrick Library? It is a faithful reproduction of a house on...

On the 31st of August, 1956, the poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes boarded a train in London bound for Yorkshire. They were travelling...

On the 16th of August 1783, at midday, Thomas Spencer was hung by the neck on Beacon Hill, near Halifax. He had been found guilty of high...

If you grew up in Yorkshire, like me, I’m willing to bet that you know quite a lot about the writers known collectively as The Bronte...

Anne Lister – need we say more?? They’re here at last!  I’ve been working in Calderdale Libraries and I’ve never seen them...