Discovering Armstrong Browning Library Resources

The Armstrong Browning Library's (ABL's) greatest strength is in its materials focusing on the lives and works of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, including original letters and manuscripts, books from the poets' library, all of the first and many successive editions of their poetry, secondary works and criticisms, their poetry set to music, portraits, and memorabilia too numerous to list. The ABL has the world's largest collection of materials related to the Brownings.

Additionally, the library has developed into a 19th-century research center with substantial book and manuscript collections on the Brownings' circle, 19th-century writers (such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Eliza Cook, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Francis William Newman, John Henry Newman, Christina Rossetti, John Ruskin, and Alfred Lord Tennyson) and on most areas of 19th-century culture.

This guide is to help researchers discover and access the Armstrong Browning Library's resources.

Prior to your visit, it will be helpful to skim our "Use the Collection" webpage: https://library.web.baylor.edu/visit/armstrong-browning-library-museum/research-instruction/use-collections.

If this is your first time using the ABL's materials you will need to fill out a researcher registration form and bring a photo ID with you.

You should also familiarize yourself with the "Regulations Governing Use of Research Materials." And the blog post "Navigating New to You Rare Book & Special Collection Libraries: A Working List of Questions to Ask" may provide insight to conducting research in a special collections reading room.

Friendly reminder, providing at least 2 full business days notice increases the likelihood of all the materials you would like to consult being available to you at a time that is mutually convenient to you and our librarians.

This library guide is part of our “spotlight on the disciplines” literacy tier. In this tier you will be introduced to advanced academic research skills. These skills are developed by working with research librarians in upper-level courses specific to their discipline. The spotlight represents the in-depth instruction, library guides, advanced search strategies, and research consultations provided by the special collections librarians and archivists.