Armstrong-Browning to Dedicate Belew Scholars' Room July 14

July 11, 1995

Baylor University will dedicate the new Belew Scholars' Room in the Armstrong-Browning Library at 3 p.m. Friday, July 14.
The Belew Scholars' Room will house rare materials including manuscripts and letters, and provide a more comfortable setting for scholars to view such materials, said Rita Humphrey, curator of manuscripts at Armstrong-Browning Library.
"This is an area we've needed for quite a while to increase our traffic of scholars and researchers," she said.
The opening and dedication will be in the Belew Scholars' Room on the third floor of the library, and refreshments will be served in the Cox Reception Hall on the first floor following the ceremony.
The Belew Scholars' Room will have three large study tables, book cabinets and access to the BayLis computer catalog, Humphrey said. It also will contain an open-shelf reference section where scholars will have free access to material. A staff person will be in the room to assist the researchers.
The room is designed primarily to aid and encourage visiting researchers, but it also will be open to Baylor faculty and students, Humphrey said. Last year, Armstrong-Browning Library hosted 15 visiting researchers, and 31 researchers visited in 1995.
The Armstrong-Browning Library contains the world's largest collection of material relating to poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It has an extensive collection of letters, manuscripts and editions by the English poets. The library also has accrued a large collection of materials relating to Browning's contemporaries, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Dickens and John Ruskin. Much of this material makes up the "19th Century Collection," which will be housed in the Belew Scholars' Room.
The room was made possible by Dr. and Mrs. John S. Belew and Katherine Belew Gorham in memory of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Belew. John S. Belew is currently provost emeritus of Baylor and the Jo Murphy Chair in International Education. He also has served as a Baylor vice president and provost, executive vice president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry.
As provost, Dr. Belew played a major role in helping the library to acquire the "19th Century Collection," Humphrey said.