Baylor Wreath To Be Placed On Browning's Grave In London

by Alan Hunt

Dr. Mairi Rennie, former director of Armstrong Browning Library, will represent Baylor University during a wreath-laying ceremony Dec. 12 at the grave of English poet Robert Browning at Westminster Abbey, London.
Baylor annually joins the London Browning Society in placing a wreath on Browning's grave in Poet's Corner at the abbey. The date marks the anniversary of Browning's death in Venice on Dec. 12, 1889.
The wreath-laying pilgrimage to Westminster Abbey was started many decades ago by friends and supporters of Armstrong Browning Library, which houses the world's largest collection of letters, manuscripts, personal items and other materials relating to Robert Browning and his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The world-famous library was established by the late Dr. A.J. Armstrong, chair of Baylor's English department from 1912-52. Dedicated on Dec. 2, 1951, the building and its artifacts were a life-long project for Armstrong, who died March 31, 1954, two days after his 81st birthday.
Rennie retired to her native England earlier this year after serving as director of the library for six years. She also held the Margaret Root Brown Chair in Robert Browning Studies and served as a visiting professor of English. An internationally known Browning authority and scholar, she remains in regular contact with her many colleagues at Baylor and Armstrong Browning Library.
For more information, contact Rita Patteson, assistant professor and librarian/curator of manuscripts at Armstrong Browning Library, at 710-4967 or Rita_Patteson@baylor.edu.