Electronic Resources

The Brownings: A Research Guide is a comprehensive and fully annotated online research tool that facilitates the study of the works and lives of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and their circle.

The online Guide lists, in traditional bibliographical formats, all known Browning-related material--some 70,000 items--and draws on the Browning collection in the Armstrong Browning Library as well as other collections from around the world. It includes checklists of the Brownings' correspondence; a catalogue of their possessions: the poets' library, first works, presentation volumes, manuscripts, likenesses, works of art, household and personal effects, and other association items; contemporary reviews of their works; secondary source material relating to the Brownings (which are called supporting documents); and an unannotated bibliography of printed works that includes the Brownings' own writings as well as reference works, biographies, and criticism relating to the Brownings.

The Guide includes two components that focus on members of the Brownings' circle.

    Lady Layard's Journal is an archive of notes and observations by Enid, Lady Layard (1843-1912). She was a good friend to Browning in his later years, and her journal contains significant amounts of recollections and reminiscences relating to the poet and other leading figures of the day.

    The Joseph Milsand Archive provides a checklist of Milsand's correspondence and a catalogue of his collections. Joseph Antoine Milsand (1817-1886) was introduced to the Brownings in 1851 and came to be Browning's closest friend.

BearCat, the Baylor University Libraries' online catalog, can be searched to find all of the books, music scores, audio/visual material, and many of the periodicals located in the Armstrong Browning Library. BearCat terminals are located on the Library's main (second) floor and in the Belew Scholars' Room.

IN-HOUSE BROWNING DATABASE


The Browning Database is available for use only in the Armstrong Browning Library. Browning students, scholars, and library staff utilize the database to search transcripts and printed materials by keyword or phrase. Search and report routines are available for the checklists and, whenever possible, under restrictions of copyright and ownership permission, the text of the documents can be viewed. It is also an asset to scholars with a wider 19th-century British literary or historical interest since the Brownings were associated with and corresponded with many other prominent Victorian figures.

The In-house Browning Database contains the following information:
  • A checklist of over 11,000 letters written by or addressed to Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, providing the date, author, recipient, first line of the letter, publication history, and manuscript location.
  • The full text of 2,800+ letters owned by the ABL and the full text of 2,812 letters, with annotations, that have been printed in The Brownings' Correspondence.
  • A checklist of over 6,200 supporting documents, consisting of (a) documents and letters addressed by or to Barrett and Browning family members and (b) documents and letters written by third parties in which the poets are mentioned.
  • Full text of the 691 supporting documents which are located in the ABL.
  • A checklist of over 1,500 contemporary reviews of the Brownings' works which are searchable by author or by title of the review, journal, or poem.
The database was installed at the Armstrong Browning Library on January 28-29, 1998, and was developed by Dr. Philip Kelley and Dr. Scott Lewis as a research tool to support The Brownings' Correspondence, a projected 40-volume edition of the Brownings' letters (Wedgestone Press, 1984 - ). It is updated annually. For research questions or for an appointment to use the database, contact Rita Patteson, Director and Curator of Manuscripts, at 254.710.4967.