Armstrong Browning Library’s Annual Browning Day Celebration Features Cinematic Virtual Reality

Contact: Carl Flynn, Baylor Libraries

Media Contact: Lori Fogleman, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-6275
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WACO, Texas (April 10, 2019) – Baylor University’s renowned Armstrong Browning Library will host its annual Browning Day celebration on Friday, April 12, commemorating the birthdays of Victorian poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning and honoring their life’s work. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Hankamer Treasure Room at Armstrong Browning Library, 710 Speight Ave.

The celebration features “Celebrating Elizabeth Barrett Browning Through Cinematic Virtual Reality,” a presentation by Amanda Gardner, and will be followed by a reception with a twist. Instead of simply discussing the Brownings, attendees are invited to experience the Browning’s lives through a CVR simulation.

The experience features a birthday party in the Browning household from the perspective of the girlfriend of Pen Browning, the Brownings’ son. Guests will have the opportunity to come face to face with Robert Browning (played by Steven Pounders, professor of theatre arts), Pen Browning (played by Noah Alderfer, B.F.A. ’18), Arabella Barrett (played by Bailey Harris, B.F.A. ’18) and other significant people in the Brownings’ lives.

“The humanities need a booster shot in today’s technologically driven world,” said Amanda Gardner, executive producer, creator and co-writer of the Browning Day CVR presentation. “Digital natives (those born immersed in internet culture) learn differently than those of us who bridge the gap. Since no one else is and we have the resources to do this, we are morally obligated to do so.”

Gardner also is a Baylor Ph.D. candidate in education and is interested in studying the value of CVR in English curriculum and its enhancement of the education of digital natives.

“This year’s Browning Day presentation will provide us the opportunity to focus on the work of Baylor graduate students – Ms. Gardner’s work and the work of her many collaborators in the departments of film and digital media, theatre and beyond,” said Jennifer Borderud, director of Armstrong Browning Library. “It will also give us a new lens through which to view Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the way poetry is taught in school.”

Armstrong Browning Library is a research center and museum dedicated to the study of the lives and works of Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and houses the world’s largest collection of Browning material and other fine collections of rare 19th-century books, manuscripts and works of art.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Carl Flynn at Carl_Flynn@baylor.edu or visit www.baylor.edu/library/browningday.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 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 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.

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, The Texas Collection and The Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society – the Libraries serve as academic life centers that create knowledge through research resources and innovative technologies that empower the Baylor community and enrich academic conversations around the world.