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The Browning Society Newsletter the Browning Society Newsletter The Browning Society Newsletter The Browning Society Newsletter Issue No: 4 March 2020 most devoted friends [he] ever had in Outreach efforts by library faculty P r o m o t i n g [his] life” and whose death, Edmund and the development of the ABL’s Gosse later wrote, precipitated the end of Teaching Fellows Program have led to an “a second stage in Browning’s life—that increase in the number of Baylor gradu- browning’s life which had lasted since the death of his ate and undergraduate students visiting wife in 1861.” the library. This semester, 750 students in & legacy art, English, history, honors, journalism, and music classes spent time at the ABL. Promoting Browning’s Life and Some students received tours of the li- Legacy, the Annual Browning Lecture brary building and learned about the li- was given at the Graveside in Poets’ Cor- brary’s history and the lives and works of ner, Westminster Abbey on 13th Decem- the Brownings. Other students examined ber 2019 by Jenifer Borderud, Associate the library’s letters, manuscripts, and rare Librarian and Director of the Armstrong books and now know how to find, handle, Browning Library (ABL), Baylor, Texas, and analyze these primary source materi- USA. als. The ABL is leveraging technolo- While a graduate student at Baylor Uni- gy to broaden its reach. Our Browning versity in Waco, Texas, I received a re- and Victorian letters have been digitized search assistantship at Baylor’s Arm- and are available to scholars online any- strong Browning Library, or ABL as it is time, anywhere. The library’s Browning also known. The ABL, a research center Music Collection, which includes verse and museum dedicated to the study of the by Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Brown- lives and works of Robert Browning and ing set to music, will be available online Elizabeth Barrett Browning, houses the in the near future. world’s largest collection of Browning Some of these digitization pro- materials as well as books, manuscripts, jects, such as our project to bring together periodicals, tracts, pamphlets, art, and digitized copies of Browning letters from other cultural artifacts to support research After completing my master’s in around the world, have resulted in part- on nineteenth-century literature and cul- English, earning a second graduate de- nerships with institutions in the United ture more broadly. Named by the BBC as gree in library and information studies, States and the United Kingdom, includ- one of the most beautiful college libraries and holding the position of rare books ing Eton College. The library’s digitized in America, the ABL also serves as a catalog librarian in Baylor’s Central Li- collections are also being incorporated cultural venue for the Baylor campus, braries, I was given the opportunity to into workshops led by the Baylor Librar- hosts numerous lectures, symposia, and return to the Armstrong Browning Li- ies on text data mining to encourage their concerts, and draws more than 30,000 brary and carry on the library’s mission use in digital humanities research. visitors a year. to promote the study and appreciation of The ABL has supported gradu- As a graduate student at the li- the Brownings and the wider field of ate and undergraduate students who brary, I assisted visiting scholars with nineteenth-century literature and culture. sought to tell the Brownings’ story their research, transcribed original letters, And this is an exciting time at the Arm- through videogames and virtual reality to and learned about the work of the li- strong Browning Library. see how these interactive and immersive brary’s curators. During this time, my The ABL’s collections of Brown- technologies impact learning. The library interest in Robert Browning was sparked ing materials and nineteenth-century let- also hosted a flightless, multisite confer- and deepened as I prepared my master’s ters, manuscripts, and rare books are ence on ecology and religion in nine- thesis, a critical edition of fifty-two let- growing, and we recently renovated col- teenth-century studies that virtually con- ters written by Browning and his sister lection storage space to ensure the long- nected five institutions in the US and the Sarianna to their friend Annie Egerton term preservation of the library’s original UK. An additional 600 people in 19 Smith. These letters, which begin in 1868 letters and manuscripts. countries participated in the conference and end in 1877, the year Smith died un- Each year, the library continues to online, demonstrating the feasibility of expectedly while spending a summer attract scholars from around the world this environmentally sustainable form of holiday with Browning and his sister, who use the library’s collections to ad- professional conferencing. provide a glimpse into Browning’s rela- vance their dissertations, articles, and Of interest to those Browning So- tionship with Smith, revealing their book projects. These scholars become ciety members traveling to Italy in the shared appreciation of music and travel part of the Baylor community, sharing coming year, the ABL is proud to host and their intimate knowledge of each their research in public lectures and infor- the annual dinner and meeting of the other’s households. The letters also serve mal gatherings of faculty and students Fano Club. This past summer, over 30 as a record of Browning’s friendship with and attending campus-wide events. people joined the ranks of this exclusive Smith, whom he described as “one of the club, founded by Browning scholar Wil- liam Lyon Phelps in 1912. To become a member, one must travel to Fano, Italy, at Pilgrim’s Point”. view Guercino’s painting The Guardian The Brownings Angel, which inspired Browning to write a poem of the same name, and send a postcard to the Armstrong Browning Li- and slavery brary requesting membership in the club. By tradition, Fano Club members are The President delivered Simon Avery’s invited to the ABL for a dinner in honor paper at the 2019 Annual Commemora- of Browning’s birthday each spring. tion of the Marriage of Robert Browning Members in attendance tell stories of with Elizabeth Barrett which took place their trip to Fano, and the youngest mem- at St Marylebone Parish Church on 12th ber present reads Browning’s poem to the September 1846. group. The paper addressed the highly On behalf of Baylor University complex relationship between the Brown- and the Armstrong Browning Library, ings and slavery raising some difficult thank you for allowing me to share some and challenging issues – both about the of the good work happening at the ABL. I poets themselves and about the wider am deeply honored to be part of this cere- political culture of the eighteenth and mony commemorating Robert Browning, nineteenth centuries. and it is my hope that The Browning So- So much of the history of the Brit- ciety and the Armstrong Browning Li- Simon Avery is Reader in in Nineteenth- ish slave trade often remains untold, and Century Literature and Culture, of the brary will continue to work together to this silencing is something which both the celebrate and promote Browning’s life University of Westminster Brownings in their own day and modern and legacy. historians in ours have sought to address. The talk focused mainly on Eliza- beth’s poetic responses to slavery but also DATES for your addressed the question of how Robert reflected upon slavery. For both poets, diary in 2020 the legacy of slavery was undoubtedly problematic and haunting. Browning Sunday 2020 at St Maryle- bone Parish Church, commemorating the marriage of Elizabeth Barrett to Rob- ert Browning, will be on Sunday 13 September. The Choral Eucharist at 11.00am will include a presentation of work by Robert and Elizabeth given by well-known actors. This will be followed by lunch (£20 per head with wine), an afternoon of readings from the works of Robert and Elizabeth and afternoon tea. At the heart of Elizabeth’s poetry, The annual Wreath-Laying ceremony at Jennifer Borderud is Associate Librarian from her first compositions to the last, is Robert Browning's grave in Poets' Cor- and director of the Armstrong Browning a concern with the push for equality, lib- ner in Westminster Abbey will take Library (ABL). She previously held posi- erty and freedom from structures of op- place on Friday 18th December, 2020, tions as access and outreach librarian at pression. Her poetic voice is one which following Choral Evensong (5pm). After the ABL and as rare books catalog li- speaks for the rights of women, the work- the Wreath Laying and Lecture we shall brarian in the Central Libraries at Baylor ing classes, children, animals and whole repair for refreshments to The Two University. She received both her BA and countries – Greece and Italy – which Chairmen (just a few minutes’ walk form her MA in English from Baylor Universi- were fighting for independence and unifi- the Abbey). Tickets (to include refresh- ty and her MS in Information Studies cation. ments) £20.00 available from the Secre- from the University of Texas at Austin. Of course, many writers in the late tary or via St Marylebone Parish Church. While writing her master’s thesis, Brown- -eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries ing's Companion Dear and True: The had addressed the issue of slavery and The 4th Annual St Marylebone Festival Letters of Robert and Sarianna Browning often the most telling interrogations of featuring literature and music connected to Annie Egerton Smith, she held a grad- the problems of slavery were offered by with St Marylebone will take place be- uate assistantship with former ABL direc- women writers.
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