Author Archives: Rachel Jacob

The Armstrong Browning Library’s 2022 Baylor Book Society Acquisitions

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by Rachel Jacob, Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

As the Armstrong Browning Library continues to build the largest collection of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning works, it is also building its collection of academic works about the Brownings and the long nineteenth century. Below are the Armstrong Browning Library’s newly acquired works courtesy of the Baylor Book Society, some of which can be seen on display in the Easter Day Alcove which connects the Entrance Foyer to the Leddy-Jones Research Hall.

The Baylor Book Society, established in 1970 as the Moody Memorial Library Book Fund, provides a way for donors to strengthen the book purchases of Baylor Libraries and create a lasting tribute. The contribution of an individual or group creates a legacy as the Libraries place a special plate with the name of the donor and the honoree in the first volume which the funds help acquire.

 

In memory of Hannah McKay Crofts by Frances McKay Andrews and Ellen Andrews Gage.

Beverly Seaton’s The Language of Flowers: A History. [ABL Non-Rare 398.368 S441l 1995]

 

In memory of Jean Withers McIver by Martha A. and Roger L. Brooks.

Tessa Bridal’s Effective Exhibit Interpretation and Design. [ABL Non-Rare 069.4 B851e 2013]

In memory of Dr. Cornelia Marschall Smith by Martha and Roger Brooks.

The Letters of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Volume V: 1866-1874. [ABL Non-Rare]

In honor of Joy and Herbert H. Reynolds by Martha and Roger Brooks.

The Letters of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Volume VI: 1875-1882. [ABL Non-Rare]

In memory of Etta and Robert Withers by Martha Withers Brooks.

Catherine Addison’s A Genealogy of the Verse Novel. [ABL Non-Rare 821.009 A225g 2017]

In loving memory of My Parents Mr. and Mrs. Ben Skrabanek by Rita S. Patteson.

Fiona Samson’s Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. [ABL Non-Rare 821.82 B S192t 2021b]

 

In honor of Jeanne Wood Nowlin by Kay and Mike Brown.

Elizabeth Ludlow’s The Figure of Christ in the Long Nineteenth Century. [ABL Non-Rare 809.93351 L945f 2020]

By Charlotte and Robert Lloyd.

Fiona Samson’s Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. [ABL Non-Rare 821.82 B S192t 2021b]

In honor of Dr. Rynell Stiff Novak by Joseph R. Novak.

Fiona Samson’s Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. [ABL Non-Rare 821.82 B S192t 2021b]

In honor of Rebekah Novak Proctor by Her Parents Rynell and Joseph Novak.

Heather Bozant Witcher and Amy Kahrmann Huseby’s Defining Pre-Raphaelite Poetics. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9008 W819d 2020]

In memory of Celia Dilworth Morgan, Class of 1938, by Nancy and Phil Wedemeyer.

Isobel Armstrong’s Victorian Poetry: Poetry Poetics and Politics. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 A735v 2019]

In honor of the Anna and Bob Wright Family by Mike and Kay Brown.

Clare Pettitt’s Serial Forms: The Unfinished Project of Modernity, 1815-1848. [ABL Non-Rare 070.5 P511s 2020]

In memory of Rev. Al Novak, 1929, by Rynell and Joseph Novak.

Krista Lysack’s Chronometres: Devotional Literature, Duration, and Victorian Reading. [ABL Non-Rare 028.9 L993c 2019]

In honor of Joseph R. Novak, BU 1951, by Dr. Rynell S. Novak.

Karen Swann’s Lives of the Dead Poets: Keats, Shelley, Coleridge. [ABL Non-Rare 821.709 S972l 2019]

In memory of Dr. Margaret Jones Chanin by Gretchen Peterson Thomas.

Fiona Samson’s Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. [ABL Non-Rare 821.82 B S192t 2021b]

In memory of Celia Dilworth Morgan, Class of 1938, by Nancy and Phil Wedemeyer. 

John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking’s Learning from Museums. [ABL Non-Rare 069.1 F191l 2018]

In memory of Dorothy Cunningham Lamberth by many Tyler friends who love her.

Sarah Glendon Lyons’ Algernon Swinburne and Walter Pater: Victorian Aestheticism, Doubt and Secularisation. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9008 L991a 2015]

In memory of Jesmarie Harvey Hurst by libraries board of advisors and library staff.

Joseph Crawford’s Inspiration and Insanity in British Poetry: 1825-1855. [ABL Non-Rare 821.709 C899i 2019]

In memory of Jesmarie Harvey Hurst by loving Tyler friends.

Philipp Erchinger’s Artful Experiments: Ways of Knowing in Victorian Literature and Science. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9356 E65a 2018]

In memory of Jesmarie Harvey Hurst by Martha and John Minton.

John Blades’ Robert Browning: The Poems. [ABL Non-Rare 821.83 D B632r 2018]

In loving memory of Ann Miller, an outstanding English professor, from her friends Nancy and Fred Logan.

Elise Partridge’s The Exiles’ Gallery. [ABL Non-Rare 811.6 P275ex 2015]

In honor of Mary Barton Robinson, BA 1950, by Kathy Robinson Hillman.

Jessica L. Lacher-Feldman’s Exhibits in Archives and Special Collections Libraries. [ABL Non-Rare 021.7 L137e 2013]

In honor of my parents, Mr. and Mrs. William F. Schuetz, by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Michael Wheeler’s The Athenaeum: More Than Just a London Club. [ABL Non-Rare 367 W563a 2020]

In honor of my wife, Carol L. Schuetz, by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Fiona Sampson’s In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein. [ABL Non-Rare B S544s 2018]

In honor of Connie Schuetz Wright by Melvin H. Schuetz

Silvio Bar and Emily Hauser’s Reading Poetry, Writing Genre: English Poetry and Literary Criticism in Dialogue with Classical Scholarship. [ABL Non-Rare 821.009 B223r 2019]

In honor of our granddaughter Natalie Grace Belew for her character, diligence, and dedication, from her grandparents Ruth and John Belew.

Melisa Klimaszewski’s Collaborative Dickens: Authorship and Victorian Christmas Periodicals. [ABL Non-Rare 823.8 K65c 2019]

In memory of Carroll Hague.

Ben Glaser and Jonathan Culler’s Critical Rhythm: The Poetics of a Literary Life Form. [ABL Non-Rare 808.1 G548c 2019]

In honor of Frankie Carson by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Ana Sampson’s Night Feeds and Morning Songs: Honest, Fierce and Beautiful Poems about Motherhood. [ABL Non-Rare 808.81 S192n 2021]

 

In honor of Sue and Wilburn “Dub” Wright by George W. Monroe.

Paul E. Kerry’s Thomas Carlyle and the Idea of Influence. [ABL Non-Rare 828.809 K41t 2018]

In honor of William F. Schuetz, Jr. by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Daniel Karlin’s Street Songs: Writers and Urban Songs and Cries, 1800-1925. [ABL Non-Rare 821.009 K18st 2018]

In memory of Louise H. Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Albert D. Pionke’s Teaching Later British Literature: A Thematic Approach. [ABL Non-Rare 820.7 P662t 2019]

In honor of Lumae Cunningham and Roger Spurgeon Brooks by Roger Leon Brooks.

Britta Martens’ The Poetry of Robert Browning. [ABL Non-Rare 821.83 D M377p 2016]

In honor of Lynn Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Shane McCorristine’s Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750-1920. [ABL Non-Rare 133.1 M191s 2010]

In memory of Dr. Susan Burrow Colón by Ivy, Greg, and Luke Hamerly.

Andrew Hodgson’s The Poetry of Clare, Hopkins, Thomas, and Gurney: Lyric Individualism. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 H691p 2019]

In memory of my father, William F. Schuetz, by Melvin H. Schuetz.

David Kerler and Timo Muller’s Poem Unlimited: New Perspectives on Poetry and Genre. [ABL Non-Rare 808.1 K39p 2019]

In honor of Shirley Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Brian Rejack and Michael Theune’s Keats’s Negative Capability: New Origins and Afterlives. [ABL Non-Rare]

In honor of my wife, Carol L. Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz.

Kevin Klipfel and Dani Cook’s Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Principles and Practices. [ABL Non-Rare 025.56 K65l 2017]

 

 

 

More information about the Baylor Book Society and other Baylor Library programs can be found at:

https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=1671

https://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=975620

https://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=975621

The Armstrong Browning Library’s 2021 Baylor Book Society Acquisitions

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by Rachel Jacob, Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

The Baylor Book Society, established in 1970 as the Moody Memorial Library Book Fund, provides a way for donors to strengthen the book purchases of Baylor Libraries and create a lasting tribute. The contribution of an individual or group creates a legacy as the Libraries place a special plate with the name of the donor and the honoree in the first volume which the funds help acquire.

The Armstrong Browning Library purchased the following books through donations to the Baylor Book Society.

 

In memory of Dr. Margaret Jones Chanin by Gretchen Peterson Thomas

Anna Barton’s Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Liberal Thought: Forms of Freedom. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 B293n 2017]

In memory of Celia Dilworth Morgan, Class of 1938, by Nancy and Phil Wedemeyer

Catherine Phillips and R.K.R. Thornton’s The Collected Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1852-1881. Volumes I & II. [ABL Non-Rare 821.8 H794c 2006]

In honor of the Anna and Bob Wright Family by Mike and Kay Brown

Stephen Cheeke’s Transfiguration: The Religion of Art in Nineteenth-Century Literature Before Aestheticism. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9382 C515t 2016]

In honor of Connie Schuetz Wright by Melvin H. Schuetz

Caley Ehnes’ Victorian Poetry and the Poetics of the Literary Periodical. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 E33v 2019]

In memory of Carroll Hague

Philip Hoare’s RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9358 R313b 2017]

In honor of Lynn Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz

Sarina Moore, Emily Morris, and Lesa Scholl’s Place and Progress in the Works of Elizabeth Gaskell. [ABL Non-Rare 823.8 S368p 2015]

In memory of Louise H. Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz

Colin Carman’s The Radical Ecology of the Shelleys. [ABL Non-Rare 821.7 C287r 2019]

In honor of Shirley Schuetz by Melvin H. Schuetz

Emma Mason’s Christina Rossetti: Poetry, Ecology, Faith. [ABL Non-Rare 821.8 M398c 2018]

In memory of Dr. Cornelia Marschall Smith by Martha and Roger Brooks

Patricia Murphy’s Reconceiving Nature: Ecofeminism in Late Victorian Women’s Poetry.  [ABL Non-Rare 821.8099287 M978r 2019]

In memory of Dr. Avery Thomas Sharp by Pattie and Steve Orr

Laurence W. Mazzeno and Ronald D. Morrison’s Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture: Contexts for Criticism. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9362 M477a 2017]

In memory of Jesmarie Harvey Hurst by Libraries Board of Advisors and Library Staff

Sarah Parker’s Michael Field: Decadent Moderns. [ABL Non-Rare 821.8 P243m 2019]

In honor of William F. Schuetz, Jr by Melvin H. Schuetz

Alexander Regier’s Exorbitant Enlightenment: Blake, Hamann, and Anglo-German Constellations. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9005 R335e 2018]

In loving memory of my parents Mr. and Mrs. Ben Skrabanek by Rita S. Patteson

Joshua King and Winter Jade Werner’s Constructing Nineteenth-Century Religion. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9382 K53c 2019]

In honor of Mary Barton Robinson, BA 1950, by Kathy Robinson Hillman

Linda K Hughes’ The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Women’s Poetry. [ABL Belew Scholars’ Room Reference 821.8099287 H893c 2019]

In honor of Frankie Carson by Melvin H. Schuetz

Karen Bourrier’s Victorian Bestseller: The Life of Dinah Craik. [ABL Non-Rare B C887b 2019]

In honor of Sue and Wilburn “Dub” Wright by George W. Monroe

Patricia Cove’s Italian Politics and Nineteenth-Century British Literature and Culture.[ABL Non-Rare 820.9 C873i 2019]

In honor of my Wife, Carol L. Schuetz, by Melvin H. Schuetz

Virginia Woolf’s Flush: A Biography, illustrated by Katyuli Lloyd. [ABL Non-Rare 823.91 W913flu 2018]

In memory of Dr. Margaret Jones Chanin by Gretchen Peterson Thomas

Laurence W. Mazzeno and Ronald D. Morrison’s Victorian Environmental Nightmares. [ABL Non-Rare 820.936 M477v 2019]

In memory of Carroll Hague

Laura Eastlake’s Ancient Rome and Victorian Masculinity. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9353 E13a 2019]

In honor of Connie Schuetz Wright by Melvin H. Schuetz

Jan Marsh’s Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet. [ABL Non-Rare B R8293ma 1999]

In memory of Rev. Al Novak, 1929, by Rynell and Joseph Novak

Christopher W. Corbin’s The Evangelical Party and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Return to the Church of England. [ABL Non-Rare 283.42 C791e 2019]

In honor of Frankie Carson by Melvin H. Schuetz

Kathleen Krull’s Writers and Their Pets, illustrated by Violet Lemay. [ABL Non-Rare 636.088 K94w 2019]

In loving memory of my parents Mr. and Mrs. Ben Skrabanek by Rita S. Patteson

Kirstie Blair’s Working Verse in Victorian Scotland: Poetry, Press, Community. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 B635w 2019]

In memory of Celia Dilworth Morgan, Class of 1938, by Nancy and Phil Wedemeyer

Brenda Ayers’ Victorians and Their Animals: Beast on a Leash. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9362 A985v 2019]

By Charlotte and Robert Lloyd

John Simons’ Rossetti’s Wombat: Pre-Raphaelites and Australian Animal in Victorian London. [ABL Non-Rare 759.2 S611r 2008]

In memory of Hannah McKay Crofts by Frances McKay Andrews and Ellen Andrews Gage

Juliette Atkinson’s French Novels and the Victorians. [ABL Non-Rare 843.809 A876f 2017]

In memory of Celia Dilworth Morgan, Class of 1938, by Nancy and Phil Wedemeyer

Lesa Scholl’s Hunger, Poetry and the Oxford Movement: The Tractarian Social Vision. [ABL Non-Rare 821.809 S468h 2020]

In honor of Mary Barton Robinson, BA 1950, by Kathy Robinson Hillman

Jan Marsh’s Christina Rossetti: A Writer’s Life. [ABL Non-Rare B R829ma 1995]

In memory of Dr. Susan Burrow Colón by Ivy, Greg, and Luke Hamerly

Andrew O. Winckles and Angela Rehbein’s Women’s Literary Networks and Romanticism: A Tribe of Authoresses. [ABL Non-Rare 820.99287 W775w 2017]

In memory of Dorothy Cunningham Lamberth by many Tyler friends who love her

Lesa Scholl’s Hunger Movements in Early Victorian Literature: Want, Riots, Migration. [ABL Non-Rare 823.809353 S368h 2016]

In memory of Jesmarie Harvey Hurst by loving Tyler friends

Ayesha Mukherjee’s A Cultural History of Famine: Food Security and the Environment in India and Britain. [ABL Non-Rare 363.90954 M953c 2019]

In honor of Sue and Wilburn “Dub” Wright by George W. Monroe

Kevin A. Morrison’s Victorian Liberalism and Material Culture: Synergies of Thought and Place. [ABL Non-Rare 306.0941 M879v 2018]

In honor of Rebekah Novak Proctor by her parents Rynell and Joseph Novak

William Baker and Jeanette Roberts Shumaker’s Jewish Writing: A Reference and Critical Guide to Jewish Writing in the UK, Volume 1. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9 B167j 2019]

In honor of Joseph R. Novak, BU1951, by Dr. Rynell S. Novak

William Baker and Jeanette Roberts Shumaker’s Jewish Writing: A Reference and Critical Guide to Jewish Writing in the UK, Volume 2. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9 B167j 2019]

By Martha Withers Brooks

Sheshalatha Reddy’s British Empire and the Literature of Rebellion: Revolting Bodies, Laboring Subjects. [ABL Non-Rare 820.9358 R313b 2017]

 

More information about the Baylor Book Society and other Baylor Library programs can be found at:

https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=1671

https://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=975620

https://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=975621

“The Truth Is –It Is An Immature & Imperfect Work”: Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s New Objects In The Collection

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by Rachel Jacob, Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

As the library with the largest collection of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning materials, the Armstrong Browning Library is continually seeking out and acquiring new items to strengthen the collection. Every new material acquired gives an insight into the lives of the Brownings, the society in which they lived, or the legacy they left behind. In 2020, the Library was able to acquire three new items which focus on Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

The African

Manuscript of ‘The African’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The first is a poem in two cantos, “The African,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is a lesser-known work by Barrett Browning about a once African prince who is now enslaved in Jamaica. The poem was inspired by Barrett Browning’s first cousin once removed, Richard Barrett, when he told a story of a runaway slave. This acquisition was made possible with an endowment established by Margaret Cox. 

A Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Contemporary copy of Charles Hayter’s portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The second is a portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The painting portrays Elizabeth Barrett Browning followed by a dog carrying her hat. They are entering the porch at Hope End near Ledbury, Herefordshire. This is an oil on canvas in its original 19th-century rosewood frame. It is a contemporary oil copy of Charles Hayter’s original portrait; however, there is speculation as to whether this was created by Arabella Moulton-Barrett, Barrett Browning’s sister, or Pen Browning, her son. If you are visiting the Armstrong Browning Library you can see works by the two artists and decide for yourself. Moulton-Barrett painted the top of the sewing table in the Elizabeth Barrett-Browning Salon. Pen Browning has artwork all over the library, including in the stairwell. This acquisition was made possible with an endowment established by Margaret Cox. 

A Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Louis Cappel

The final acquisition is a letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This letter, dated 29 July 1843, is to Louis Cappel, Pastor of St. George’s German church in London. Louis Cappel had recently received a copy of her translation of Prometheus as a gift from Barret Browning’s brother Edward. In this letter, Elizabeth Barrett Browning corrects Cappel’s incorrect assumption that Prometheus was a gift from her. Instead, she writes, “The truth is –it is an immature & imperfect work […] thus I cast it behind my own back, & never make gifts of it to others. May it perish!” She then offers him a copy of The Seraphim, and Other Poems to make amends. We also have that copy of The Seraphim in our collection. This letter was a gift to the Baylor University English Department in Honor of Dr. Dianna Vitanza. 

Gift from Elizabeth Barret Browning to Louis Cappel

For more information on our collections visit:
http://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=974966

“A Wild Book —Abounding In Beauty, Tho”

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by Rachel Jacob, Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

The Armstrong Browning Library has the largest collection of works by Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the world. It also holds works relating to the Brownings’ circle of literary friends or of 19th century significance. These factors are all considered as the ABL acquires new objects for its collection. Not every object will initially have a clear connection to one of these aspects, but could still make an important addition to ABL’s collection. The new exhibit in the Hankamer Treasure room explores how the ABL grows its collection with Ebenezer Jones’ Studies of Sensation and Event as an example.

Ebenezer Jones did not have documented contact with the Brownings and was not a well-known 19th century writer, but his work connects to the Brownings. The objects on display show Jones’ connections to the ABL’s collection.

Ebenezer Jones’ Studies of Sensation and Event. 1st Edition. London: Charles Fox, Paternoster Road, 1843.

The main focus of the display is Ebenezer Jones’ Studies of Sensation and Event. This is a first edition of Ebenezer Jones’ first and only collection of poetry. This copy contains extensive manuscript annotations and additions by Jones including poem corrections, unpublished poems, and a letter from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Richard Herne Shepherd. The copy on display was likely used by Richard Herne Shepherd with the new publication as Shepherd’s updated edition of Studies of Sensation and Event includes the edited annotations that appear in this copy.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s letter to Richard Herne Shepherd in Ebenezer Jones’ Studies of Sensation and Event.

A letter from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Richard Herne Shepherd is tipped into Ebenezer Jones’ Studies of Sensation and Event. Richard Herne Shepherd edited and published a later edition of Jones’ work as well as publishing a later edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti thought highly of Ebenezer Jones’ work as evident in the letter on display where he thanks Shepherd for showing him Jones’ work. Additionally, Rossetti wrote a review of Studies of Sensation and Event for the journal Notes and Queries, in which Rossetti called Jones’ work, “Nearly the most striking instance of neglected genius in our modern school of poetry”. Rossetti and Robert Browning were close friends and often discussed writers and their works together.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Ebenezer Jones” in Notes and Queries, Feb 1870, p.154.

Robert Browning was aware of Jones and in an 1844 letter from Browning to his close friend Alfred Domett, he states, “A certain Ebenezer Jones vented a wild book —abounding in beauty, tho’– I want to get & send it to you.” Although the letter between the two is in the collection at the British Library in London, an excerpt of it is on display.

John Kenyon’s letter to Elizabeth Barrett Browning [March 1844].

Robert was not the only Browning aware of Jones. In a letter from John Kenyon, a close friend of both the Brownings, to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Kenyon writes “I hear of rival poetry– There is a Mr. Ebenezer Jones—who they say writes very well”. This letter is on display. 

These objects bring the connection of Jones and the Brownings into focus. The ABL saw the relation to the Brownings with this work and acquired it for the collection. Stop by the Hankamer Treasure room in the ABL to see this insight into the ABL’s collection.

For more information on how to visit see our website:
https://www.baylor.edu/library/index.php?id=974968

A Browning Pilgrimage

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by Rachel Jacob, Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

Part of my duties as a graduate research assistant at the Armstrong Browning Library involve looking through our collections to answer research questions people ask. A recent question related to the Armstrong tours caused me to look through the unprocessed collection of the tour company which Mary Armstrong, Dr. Armstrong’s wife, ran for many years. In researching this collection, I stumbled across the Browning pilgrimage which the Armstrong Educational Tours company created.

Brochure for the first Browning pilgrimage.

In 1926, the Armstrong Tour company offered an exciting tour of Europe highlighting areas of the Browning’s lives. The tour was infused with literary references and readings. The tourists, or “pilgrims”, would even have literary lectures given by Dr. Armstrong and European Browning scholars at various stops on the trip. Dr. Armstrong himself described the tour:

“This pilgrimage to the shrines of the most virile poet of the Nineteenth Century is a spontaneous growth, out of the minds and hearts of Browning Lovers of America. The tour will include all the interesting features along the usual path through artistic and literary and historic and scenic beauties of Europe. But, in addition to these, there will be excursions along the trail of the Brownings. This means charming excursions in out-of-the-way corners of Europe, which lend to this tour peculiar and gripping interest.”

Photograph of the Browning pilgrimage tour at Fano.

On the tour, the group visited important places in Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s story including their home at Casa Guidi, Barrett Browning’s house at 50 Wimpole Street, the church where they were married, and the burial spot of Barrett Browning. The group also visited the Baths of Luca where Barrett Browning presented her Sonnets of the Portuguese to Browning. Another literary stop relating to the Browning’s works was the Piazza S. Lorenzo where the Old Yellow Book, the inspiration for the Ring and the Book, was found. The pilgrims even followed the trail of Pompelia and Caponsacchi while they were traveling. They were also able to visit Fano to see the Guardian Angel, for which Browning wrote his eponymous poem. During the trip, the pilgrims met significant people like Prince Fabrizio Cigala, the Governor of Calabria, professors at the University of Naples, and various Browning scholars and supporters.

 

Brochure for the second Browning pilgrimage.

The first tour must have been a success because in 1930 Armstrong Educational Tours offered a second Browning pilgrimage. This second pilgrimage had 19 pilgrims join on an even more expansive 5-month tour. The new additions to the tour included a trip to Ravenna to place a wreath on the grave of Dante and visit Ferrara which was associated with My Last Duchess. During their celebration in Rome for the fourth of July, the pilgrims met Contessa Zampini-Salazar, Count and Countess Vanutelli, and Donna Olivia Agresti-Rosetti, the niece of Christina and Dante Rossetti. While on the trip they even met the pope.

In discussing the second Browning pilgrimage, Dr. Armstrong remarked, “of all the twenty-odd tours I have made to Europe, this one was by far the most memorable.”

Although there was no documentation in this collection that shows the Armstrong tour company ever leading another Browning pilgrimage, Dr. Roger Brooks resurrected the trip in 1991. Dr. Brooks, the then director of the Armstrong Browning Library, offered a scaled-down week-long version of the trip. During the trip, Dr. Brooks participated in the wreath-laying ceremony at Browning’s grave in Westminster Abbey.

Going into this collection, I only expected to find an answer to the original research question, but instead, I was able to witness the dedication and impact of the Brownings that is still seen to this day.

Kress Collection Digitally Reunited

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By Madeleine L. Svehla, MDiv, George W. Truett Theological Seminary

The launch of the Kress Collection’s Digital Archive continues Samuel H. Kress’ vision of making his 13th-19th century European art collection permanently available to the public. The beauty and magnitude of his collection of over 3000 pieces of art is now digitally reunited and can be accessed here: https://www.kressfoundation.org/kress-collection/list. The famous Kress Collection which is known as the premier collection of European art from the 13th to 19th century was distributed all over the United States to various museums, universities, and galleries in what the February 1962 edition of Life called the “Great Kress Giveaway.”

One of the Kress Collection's paintings on display at the Armstrong Browning Library

Francesco Zuccarelli’s “Landscape with Bridge” (1720) was acquired by the Kress Foundation in 1950 and is on display in the Armstrong Browning Library.

Building & Distributing the Kress Collection

The Kress Collection had its beginnings in the 1920s but the story behind the collection begins earlier. This is a story that involves hard work, brotherhood, and legacy. This legacy has been grown like a tree sheltered during its sapling state by the efforts of a younger brother committed to carrying out his older brothers’ vision. This vision could never have been developed without the perseverance shown by Samuel H. Kress in developing his entrepreneurship and building his company from the ground up. This is his story.

Christ the Man of Sorrows 1540 is by Giampietrino an Italian painter. It was acquired by the Kress collection in 1939.

Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955) was born during the Civil War and named after an uncle who recently died in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse while he saved up to purchase a Stationery and Notions Shop and eventually a Wholesalers. He opened his first 5 and 10 Cent Store in Memphis, TN in 1896. These stores became wildly popular and new locations opened across the United States. Through the success of these stores, Samuel Kress became one of the wealthiest men in America.

Italian art was not readily available in America in the 1920s when S. Kress through a suggestion by a friend began to be interested in collecting Italian art. He worked with Contini- Bonacossi to build his collection. He came to view it as his duty to share the masterpieces he had discovered. As the collection expanded, the Kress Foundation was founded to take care of the growing needs of the collection. The Kress Foundation was the most active buyer of European Art throughout WWII. Parts of the Collection were selected to tour the country and these local exhibitions were extremely popular. The Foundation decided that—rather than building a museum or gallery for the entire collection to be put on display— they would partner with museums, galleries, and universities around the US to display portions of the collection.

The Holy Family with the Infant St. John 1600 by Flaminio Allegrini. It was acquired by the Kress Collection in 1950.

In 1946, Samuel began to suffer from ill health and his brother Rush H. Kress (1877-1963) took over the foundations’ collection efforts. Under Rush’s guidance, the collection continued to expand and be displayed across the US. This collection has been preserved and remains cared for by those working for the Kress Collection and the institutions housing it. These men and women are continuing the work begun by the Kress brothers.

Kress Collection Donates 5 Paintings to Baylor University

The oldest and most valuable of these paintings is the Madonna and Child 1310. This painting is thought to be painted by a Pietro Lorenzetti follower. It was acquired by the Kress collection in 1939.

In 1961, the Kress Foundation generously donated five paintings to Baylor University that are housed in the Armstrong Browning Museum and Library. These paintings have been on permanent display in the Treasure Room for almost 60 years. Professors and students have been enriched by the ability to work with these paintings. For instance, Heidi Hornik Ph.D. (a professor of Art and Art History at BU) took her upper-division seminar class to the ABL and the students were able to examine the 14th century Madonna and Child in detail. To read more about Dr. Hornik’s work both in and out of the classroom, please visit: https://www.baylor.edu/alumni/magazine/1702/index.php?id=957830

Four of these paintings depict Biblical characters from Jesus’ life, such as Mary and John the Baptist. The final piece is a landscape. Each piece is a beautiful example of Italian art from the 14-18th centuries.

The Christ figure above the Madonna and Child is holding his hand in a distinctive way that has theological significance. The two fingers held up and slightly apart represent the human and divine natures of the person of Christ. The fourth and fifth fingers meeting the thumb represents the three in one mystery of the Trinity. He is also robed in blue and red which represent his divinity and humanity respectively.

Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and 3 Angels 1560 This painting is thought to be painted by an Andrea del Sarto follower. It was acquired by the Kress collection in 1950.

Robert Browning wrote the poem The Faultless Painter about Andrea del Sarto in 1855. Sarto is known for his meticulous attention to detail. Browning was inspired by one of his paintings and after researching the artist’s life wrote a poem that explores Andrea’s tragic love story with his wife. Though the Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and 3 Angels is thought to be painted by a follower of Andrea del Sarto, it provides viewers with an idea of what Sarto’s meticulous style is like.

Leaving a legacy is like planting a tree. The one who plants it may never see it grow to full size. However, future generations are blessed by basking in the coolness of its shade and it leaves a lasting mark on the landscape. None of us can ever truly know the long-lasting impact our dreams will have or how the ways that we invest in the future may one day come to fruition. Samuel H. Kress’ vision of making his collection as accessible to the public as possible is now being accomplished in ways never dreamed of during his lifetime. Yet, his legacy lives on in the splendor of this shared collection.

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