Baylor University's Armstrong Browning Library to Host Browning Day

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Media contact: Lori Fogleman, (254) 710-6275
WACO, Texas (May 5, 2014) – In celebration of Robert Browning’s 202nd birthday, Baylor University’s Armstrong Browning Library will host its annual Browning Day event at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, in the Hankamer Treasure Room.
The event will focus on The Browning Letters project, the digitization of 2800 Baylor-owned letters written by Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning during their lives. The project, which was started in 2012, is a partnership between Baylor University, Wellesley College and Balliol College.
Rita Patteson, director of the Armstrong Browning Library, said the partner universities also own Browning letters.
“Representatives from Balliol College in England will be here because they will be putting the letters they have into our database,” she said. “Our ultimate dream is to have all of the letters written by the Brownings in our database.”
She said it is important to remember the correspondence of the Brownings because of their major role in the 1800s.
“They were some of the leading figures in 19th century,” Patteson said. “Their correspondence is carried on with many other Victorians, and it really gives a first-hand view into the entire century.”
A reception will follow the event in the Armstrong Browning Garden of Contentment.
A.J. Armstrong, Ph.D., former chair of Baylor's English department and founder of the Armstrong Browning Library, began Browning Day sometime after 1912 as a means of honoring poet Robert Browning, whose works of dramatic verse are said to have influenced Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot.
This event is free and open to the public. Hankamer Treasure Room is located inside the Armstrong Browning Library, 710 Speight Ave.
For more information, call the Armstrong Browning Library at (254) 710-3566.
by Kristen Bennett, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805.
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Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.

ABOUT THE BAYLOR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The Baylor University Libraries support excellence in teaching and learning, enhance research and discovery, and foster scholarship and success. Through its Central Libraries and special collections – Armstrong Browning Library, W.R. Poage Legislative Library and The Texas Collection – the Libraries serve as academic life centers that provide scholarly resources and technological innovation for the Baylor community and beyond.