The Armstrong Browning Library is located on the campus of

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, USA and is the home of the largest collections of English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Additionally it is thought to house the largest collection of secular stained glass in the world.

History

The original collection of Browning works were donated to Baylor in 1918 by Dr. A.J. Armstrong. After the death of the Browning's only son Robert Barrett Browning and subsequent sale of their collection, Dr. Armstrong obtained a list of the items sold and their purchasers, and attempted to acquire the memorabilia via donation or purchase. Dr. Armstrong's collection was originally housed in the Carroll Library. The Carroll Library was heavily damaged in a 1922 fire; none of the Browning works were lost, and a special room was subsequently built to house them. However, by 1925 the collection had outgrown the space. In 1943, Baylor President

Pat Neff Pat Morris Neff (November 26, 1871 – January 20, 1952) was an American politician, educator and administrator, and the 28th Governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925, ninth President of Baylor University from 1932 to 1947, and twenty-fifth presid ...

donated US$100,000 toward a new library. Construction on the library (which would also house the English department) began in 1948 and the finished structure (costing US$1.75 million) was dedicated in 1951. The building was significantly renovated in 1995 to house an even larger collection (by then the English department had relocated) and refurbished in 2012.

External links

Official Armstrong Browning Library WebsiteBaylor University web siteLibraries at Baylor University web site
{{Authority control University and college academic libraries in the United States Libraries in Waco, Texas Baylor University Library buildings completed in 1951 Tourist attractions in Waco, Texas Robert Browning Special collections libraries in the United States