Grand Days Out: items from the Agricultural Shows pamphlet box

While Local Studies has been operating on a pre-booked system, with a decrease in footfall in the meantime, we’ve had more chances to wander around through our back room and rest our eyes on random objects that pique our interest. From academic journals on the natural history of the north of England, to copies of speeches calling for compulsory vaccination against smallpox in 1885 (!), lots of things are catching our attention this summer.

As the Halifax Agricultural Show is cancelled again this year, and all of us are missing the opportunity to go see fancy breeds and vegetable creations, we thought we would highlight the Agricultural Shows pamphlet box (Dewey number 630-639).

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society was formed in 1837 and held shows all across Yorkshire and the Ridings, changing its location year on year up until 1950 when the Society purchased its own site. This meant that on occasion the “Great Yorkshire Show” was held in Halifax. A number of pamphlets and advertisements are held in this box for different years when the show came to Calderdale, as well as an application for membership. Membership of the Society didn’t just mean one could get into the show for free; one of the advertised perks is “manures and feeding stuffs analysed at reduced fees” – undoubtedly a valuable benefit for a smaller-scale animal breeder or farmer who might find themselves dealing with a mystery illness amongst their livestock. Annual or lifetime memberships were available, with reduced rates for ladies.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Show would have drawn great crowds and been popular, but membership of the Society wasn’t the only way an interested person could develop their knowledge and make connections. Countless smaller societies existed in Calderdale that covered general agriculture to specific interests. Their brochures and pamphlets are also included in this box – flowers, vegetables, bees, pigs, and cows all represented across the borough. The 1922 Halifax & District Allotments Federation show had 54 entry classes for flower and produce arrangements, and provided in the show rules that:

“All produce not removed by 8-30 pm. will be sold and the proceeds devoted to the [local] charities; it is hoped that exhibitors will leave their produce for this purpose.”

which is an interesting way to earn extra money for charitable donations on top of entry fees and other fundraising events at the show, and is perhaps something for modern shows to consider in a time when we are encouraged to avoid wasting food.

One final inclusion that caught our eye is a sales catalogue from 1934 for Thomas’s, which seems to have specialised in equipment for the keeping and breeding of birds of all descriptions. The factory location illustrated on the cover stood at the edge of Charles Street, Berwick Street and Square Road – you may now know it as the carpark next to Greenwood Mill and the Escaporium, just opposite Burger King. Thomas’s manufactured and sold birdcages and accessories not just nationwide but worldwide, and the catalogue is an interesting view of the conditions in which small birds used to kept, bred and trained. Any reader who has seen a canary’s cage in old animations, cartoons, or movies from the “golden age of cinema” will be able to picture the ornate and attractive, but very small, cages! No doubt some bird fanciers who entered their birds into various local or regional shows would have used cages or other equipment from Thomas’s as part of their display.

As always, we are more than happy to see if we have any pamphlet boxes that match an interest of yours, so don’t be shy about asking at the counter or emailing us for more information before you travel. We enjoy finding these things as much as you do.