Come along to our friendly talks for adults, every first Friday of the month. Drop in, no need to book. Please note, these talks are sometimes busy - entry is on a first come first served basis. Refreshments provided.
Leeds City Museum is a Give What You Can venue. We don't want price to be a barrier to a great experience. Simply pick the price you can give when you arrive at the museum, and enjoy your visit.
See below a list of speakers and topics for our upcoming sessions.
Friday 6 March
Yorkshire Battles
Yorkshire has been the battleground for some of the bloodiest, treacherous and most vicious battles ever fought in Britain. In this talk Josh Flint will explore two of these infamous Yorkshire Battles, The Battle of Wakefield, 1460, during the Wars of the Roses and the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644, during the English Civil War and see how these extraordinary events are represented in the Leeds Libraries Collection. There will also be an opportunity to browse items from the Yorkshire Battles Leeds Libraries Collection.
Friday 10 April
Frank Kidson: Leeds’ Pioneer of Folk Song Collecting Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones
Discover the remarkable life and legacy of Frank Kidson (1855–1926), the Leeds-born antiquarian, music scholar, journalist, and one of England’s earliest and most influential folk song collectors.
In this engaging talk, renowned Yorkshire folk musicians Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones will explore Kidson’s collecting trips around Yorkshire, his relationship with his source singers, his collaboration with his mother Mary and later his niece Ethel Kidson, and will highlight his pivotal publication—Traditional Tunes (1891) —which preserved countless songs that might otherwise have been lost.
From his conversations with singers and musicians in Yorkshire pubs to his correspondence with composers, folklorists, and fellow collectors, Kidson emerges as a vivid, sometimes cantankerous, always dedicated figure whose work pre-dated and shaped the later folk-song revival.
Join us as we rediscover and celebrate a quiet pioneer whose passion and diligence helped keep our musical heritage alive.
Friday 8 May
Music Leeds Us
Join us and Community Curator Esther Amis-Hughes to find out about our current Specialist Exhibition, Music Leeds Us. Exploring the stories in the display, to the behind the scenes co-curation showcasing 60 years of music from Leeds with the Leeds Conservatoire. Did we share some of your musical memories? What have we missed?
Friday 5 June
Fallen Snowflakes: The 1891 fire at St John's School Room, Wortley
On the 1st of January 1891, what should have been a joyful and festive performance by local children in Wortley turned to tragedy.
14 girls burned. 11 died.
Who were these girls? What happened?
Join us as we explore the events of this tragedy, the local community and consider if such local stories are being lost to time.
Friday 2 October
Ralph and John Went To Church: Ralph Thoresby and John Lewis, the first recorded Black person in Leeds
On the 1st February 1708 a remarkable thing happened, Ralph and John went to church. Ralph was Ralph Thoresby, the Leeds antiquarian and diarist. John was John Lewis, a servant and the first recorded Black person in Leeds. How were the two linked? What brought John to Leeds? And what connections did Ralph have to the Caribbean? In this talk Danny Friar answers those questions and more when he tells the story of when Ralph and John went to church.
