IMC 2016: Sessions

Since its foundation in 1863, the Yorkshire Archaeological Society has accumulated significant archive collections from all over Yorkshire, many of them records of major families, some of which date back as far as the 13th century.

In 2015 all these collections were deposited by the Society for safe-keeping in the University of Leeds, Brotherton Library Special Collections, where they are again available for use by the public. Join us for this Lunchtime Talk to learn about the highlights of the Collection, including the enormous series of surviving court rolls of the manor of Wakefield (1274-1925), the 15th-century stock book and 16th-century lease book of Fountains Abbey, the secular cartulary of Whixley, North Yorkshire (1430), and numerous early Yorkshire charters, among others.

The talk will be given by Sylvia Thomas, a past president of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society and retired County Archivist of West Yorkshire. Sylvia is the Joint Editor of the West Riding and Derbyshire volumes of Records of Early English Drama.

The session will take place in the The Sheppard Room, accessed via the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, where some of these items will be on display. Special Collections houses over 200,000 rare books and seven kilometres (4.3 miles) of manuscripts and archives, including the celebrated Brotherton Collection, the Melsteth Icelandic Collection, the Archives of the Dean & Chapter of Ripon, the Roth Collection, and the Oriental Manuscript Collection. The Reading Room of Special Collections is open from 09.00-18.00 during the Congress week, and IMC delegates are welcome to pursue their research and explore the collection. More details can be found at http://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections.