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Our Friends in the North
This was the first conference to be organised by the project, held at Leeds University on 30 September. It was attended by almost 100 people, mainly family and local historians, and local Friends, as well as research students, archivists and special collections librarians. The event was a general introduction to researching Yorkshire Quaker history and was used both to promote the work of the project to a wide audience and to try and encourage new research of all kinds. The afternoon began and ended with a focus on the extensive Quaker collections held by Leeds University Library. Oliver Pickering, Deputy Head of Special Collections, spoke briefly about the Carlton Hill and Clifford Street archives, and also organised an excellent exhibition, in collaboration with Russell Mortimer (a local custodian of records for the Society of Friends and Quaker historian). Helen Roberts, Project Archivist, gave an overview of the project's work, and demonstrated the project website and the name index database. This was followed by three case studies by local researchers, summarising their research and the sources used. The case studies were 1) Women, community and religious authority in Yorkshire 1770-1830 by Helen Plant, 2) 'Digging deep' in the Quaker archives: research resources for York and Settle Monthly Meetings 1760-1860 by Sheila Wright, and 3) Research within retirement: a Monthly Meeting example by Bernard Alloway.
Copies of the talks by the three researchers, as well as an information pack about the project, can be obtained from the Project Archivist.
