Browning Day 2012: Celebrating a Bicentennial and a Centennial:
Browning Day 2012 was a great success. May 7 was significant as it marked the bicentennial anniversary of Robert Browning’s birthday. This year is also the centennial of Dr. Armstrong’s arrival at Baylor. Several events throughout the rest of the year will mark these special occasions, most notably, the international conference at the ABL&M, on November 1-3, 2012.
Dr. Sandra Donaldson, a distinguished scholar and general editor of The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, delivered the Browning Day lecture, entitled “The Personal, the Political, and the Poetical: Four Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The four poems introduced in her address concern social issues: “The Cry of the Children,” (child labor), “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” (slavery); “Fragment of an Essay on Women” (women’s rights); and, “The Forced Recruit” (the injustice of military impressment in Italy).
Donaldson’s detailed familiarity with the poetry, political situations, and personal stories of Elizabeth and Robert Browning are evident in her intimate glimpses into these four poems that combine intellect and affections and reveal Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “enthusiasm of the understanding.”
Dr. Kirstie Blair joins Baylor’s English Department and The Armstrong Browning Library
It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Kirstie Blair to the Margarett Root Brown Chair in Robert Browning and Victorian Studies. During the fall semester, she will teach the undergraduate Robert Browning course and participate in a variety of ABL&M activities, including November’s international conference which she helped to plan.
Having previously taught at Keble College and St. Peter’s College, Oxford, Dr. Blair joined the University of Glasgow as a Lecturer in English Literature in January 2005, where she was recently promoted to Senior Lecturer. Her primary research interests lie in Victorian literature, particularly poetry and poetic form, working-class poetry and poetics, literature and medicine and literature and religion. Dr. Blair’s first monograph, Victorian Poetry and the Culture of the Heart, appeared in 2006. She has a new book, Form and Faith in Victorian Poetry and Religion, published in 2012; is an Associate Editor of The Year’s Work in English Studies; and is also a Section Editor (Victorian literature) for Literature Compass.
A high, wide and handsome Texas and Baylor welcome to Dr. Blair, her husband and their two young children, Fergus and Elsa.
The Portal, newsletter of the Library & Museum, Number 60, Summer 2012, is now in print and will be mailed to members of The Guardian Angels. The Guardian Angels group is the patron organization of the ABL&M. The patron organization is called The Guardian Angels, in reference to Robert Browning’s poem, “The Guardian Angel: A Picture at Fano.” Browning was inspired to compose the poem after viewing Guercino’s painting of the same name that hangs in Fano, Italy. About 1946, Dr. A. J. Armstrong, founder of the Browning Collection at Baylor University, initiated an organization of supporters and friends and considered the designation of “Guardian Angels” to be especially appropriate for this essential group.
The Guardian Angel organization is open to anyone interested in supporting the Library and helping to build its collections, which are used by both Baylor students and Browning scholars from around the world. Your membership ensures the continued growth of the Armstrong Browning Library and its programs.
Benefits of Guardian Angel Membership!
- be a special guest at Benefactors Day
- receive invitations to all of the Library’s events, programs, exhibits, and tours
- receive the Library’s newsletter
- be entitled to a 10% discount in the ABL Gift Gallery
Annual Membership: $50.00
Lifetime Membership: $1,000.00
To become a member, mail a check payable to BAYLOR UNIVERSITY to: Armstrong Browning Library & Museum, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97152, Waco, TX.
