The Armstrong Browning Library
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located here on the Baylor University campus in a magnificent building created especially for it is the world's largest collection of books, manuscripts, artworks and memorabilia pertaining to the married English poets Robert Browning (1812-1889) and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). This literary resource was established through the dedicated efforts of Baylor English professor Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong and his wife, Mary Maxwell Armstrong. In 1918, Dr. Armstrong, who admired the optimism and spiritual values in Robert Browning's poetry, donated his personal collection to Baylor University. Four decades of creative fundraising efforts by the Armstrongs resulted in the acquisition of more items located throughout the world, and in 1925, the Times of London called it "the most important collection of Browningiana in the world." It was housed in "The Browning Room" of the Carroll Library. In 1951, the collection was moved here to a new library building named for Dr. Armstrong and Robert Browning. In addition to the core collection of Browning books, letters, manuscripts and other papers, the library houses an impressive array of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and art objects that belonged to the Brownings or that relate to their work. The 19th century collection, added to the university library system in the 1980s, includes early editions of important works by other Victorian writers such as John Ruskin and Charles Dickens, a minor English poets collection, and a women poets collection. Also housed here are archives of 19th-century French literary critic and philosopher Joseph Milsand, a longtime friend of the Brownings. Together, the collections offer a literary resource valued by scholars worldwide. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the Baylor University campus stands the world's largest collection of materials devoted to the Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It grew from the passion of English professor Andrew Joseph Armstrong and his wife Mary, who donated Armstrong's personal Browning library to Baylor in 1918 and spent four decades gathering more from around the globe. By 1925 the Times of London called it the most important collection of Browningiana in the world, and in 1951 it moved into the purpose-built library that bears the professor's and the poet's names.
Why it matters
The library shows how a single scholar's devotion could build a world-class humanities resource in the heart of Texas, drawing researchers of 19th-century literature from around the globe.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Andrew Joseph Armstrong
- · Mary Maxwell Armstrong
- · Robert Browning
- · Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong and Mary Maxwell Armstrong
Waco, TX
Andrew Joseph Armstrong, a Kentucky-born scholar of Robert Browning, and Mary Maxwell, whom he met while both taught English in Rusk, married in 1911 and moved to Waco when he became chair of Baylor's English department. After the poets' son died without a will in 1912 and his estate was auctioned at Sotheby's, Armstrong began a decades-long quest—aided at every step by Mary—to acquire Browning papers and belongings. Their creative fundraising, from educational tours to celebrity campus visits, ultimately raised over a million dollars and opened the Armstrong Browning Library in 1951.
Seventh & James Baptist Church
Waco, TX
A group of Waco Baptists formed the Third Street Baptist Church in the summer of 1898 under the Rev. William Bowen, dedicating their first building a year later. Relocating in 1903, they took the name Seventh and James Baptist Church and soon built a larger sanctuary. Its close ties to Baylor University — drawing students and religion professors alike — have long given the congregation a scholarly character.
Governor Patrick Morris Neff
Waco, TX
Born near McGregor as the ninth child of a farming family, Pat M. Neff rose through Baylor and a Waco law practice to the Texas House, where he served as Speaker, and then to the governorship in 1920. As Texas' 27th governor he championed better roads, education and prison reform, and appointed the first state park board — the seed of the Texas park system. He later chaired the Railroad Commission and served two decades as president of Baylor University.
The Texas Collection
Waco, TX
Fearing his prized library might burn, Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth — a Waco surgeon and avid collector — donated about a thousand volumes on Texas to Baylor University in 1923, then thousands more. His gift grew into the Texas Collection, a research center that also hosted one of the first college-level Texas history courses. Over the decades it moved through several campus buildings before gaining a purpose-built home.