By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Love was in the air 179 years ago for Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Baylor is still celebrating it today at the library that received their namesake.
Armstrong Browning Library & Museum invited students to celebrate Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s 179th wedding anniversary from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday. The event offered food and displayed items from the Brownings’ collection.
Laura French, an associate librarian and curator at Armstrong Browning Library, said the purpose of the event was to introduce the library to students.
“Students, unless they’re doing research … or unless their teacher schedules a class here in the library, they might never come here and see what we have going on,” French said.
French said that planning for the event involved choosing food that would attract students and selecting highlights from the Armstrong Browning collection for students to view.
“It also gives us an opportunity to sort of throw a little bit of a party, have some food and drinks and make it a celebration in the bottom portion, Cox Reception Hall, but also to bring out rare materials and showcase the collections,” French said.
According to the Baylor University Libraries, Museums and the Press website, Armstrong Browning is named for its founder, Dr. A. J. Armstrong, and his interest in Robert Browning’s work. Armstrong donated his Browning collection to Baylor and continued to fund and expand it.
Seabrook freshman Kiya Moore said she was impressed with how well-kept the collection was.
“It’s just very nice getting to see everything they have here, especially the stuff you don’t normally get to see,” Moore said.
As for the cause for celebration, French said the Browning elopement 179 years ago was a public affair, as the Brownings were well-known for their poetry.
“Today we have pop stars and musicians; in the 19th century, they had poets,” French said.
French said that one of Armstrong Browning Library’s most famous items on display was an album of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese” manuscripts that Browning sent in the first time they were printed. French said Browning was “like Taylor Swift” when she wrote and published these poems, as she wrote them while she and Robert Browning were courting.
“As one does musically, she was working out her emotions about how she felt being someone who was well past the age of getting married, who had always been rather sickly and told she couldn’t have children, and then was being pursued by a much junior young man,” French said.
French said that students interested in viewing pieces of the collection, like “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” can request to view materials on the third floor of the library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. French also said they encourage students to email and schedule an appointment ahead of time.
“Baylor is the home to the world’s largest collections about [the Brownings], and they were pretty significant individuals, and the fact that all of these collections, whether it’s Browning items or general 19th-century items, all of these exist because of and for Baylor students,” French said.
