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‘More English than the Oxford Dictionary’: The Dialect and Heritage Project

Discover the origins of the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture, and the aims of the Dialect and Heritage Project to digitise and celebrate this important national collection at this free online talk.

What do you call the extra batter pieces you get with fish and chips? Scraps, scratchings, or something else entirely?

Join Dr Rosemary Hall for this interactive talk, to learn more about the history of the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture and the origins of the dialect words you know and love. Discover the work that the Dialect and Heritage Project have done so far to celebrate dialect diversity and bring heritage ‘home’.

Housed in the University’s Special Collections, the archive is a rich collection of dialect and folklife materials documenting English speech, culture, and rural tradition. Collected between 1950 and 1983, it is a valuable record of 19th to 20th century life and language.

The archive has been largely inaccessible to general audiences since its creation. The Dialect and Heritage Project aims to change this. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Leeds Footsteps Fund and others, the collection is being digitised to make it available to all.  

This event will be hosted online on Zoom. The joining link will be emailed to registered attendees one day before the start time.

If you experience any difficulties while registering for this event, please contact us at gallery@leeds.ac.uk so that we can assist you.

Photograph of Stanley Ellis and Tom Mason (Addingham Moorside), 1967.
Photograph of Stanley Ellis and Tom Mason (Addingham Moorside), 1967.
Photograph of Stanley Ellis and Tom Mason (Addingham Moorside), 1967.