The Browning Collections
Search Help for Browning Collections
The search fields are not case-sensitive.
Date: Enter dates in the form of YYYYMMDD. Searches can also be made by year only (YYYY) and year and month only (YYYYMM). To create a range of dates, fill in the fields both to the left and the right of the “to”. Entering 1875 to 18750228 returns all entries from the start of 1875 through 28 February 1875. Entering 1875 to 1875 returns all entries with an 1875 date. The Date field applies to publications and only return entries in the A, B, C, and M sections. To search for dates within inscriptions and on manuscripts, see Description below.
Name: Search this field for authors, editors, artists, etc. To see a list of names, click on the “T” button to the right of the Name field, then the drop-down list. To save typing, click on a name. Entering Cameron, Julia generates her entries. Entering Cameron alone returns all Camerons. A surname that constitutes part of a longer name returns the longer name as well. The more words that are entered, the narrower the search results. For Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Robert Browning use the abbreviations EBB and RB.
Role: Click on the drop-down button to search by Author, Editor, Compiler, Illustrator, etc. Leaving the field blank returns all.
Title: Entering words will return all titles containing those words (and forms of them). Entering love returns all titles containing “love”; this includes “Life and love,” as well as “Loved One” and “A Lover’s Quarrel.” The more words that are entered, the narrower the search results. In the D and E sections, the Title field also includes a poem’s first line in addition to or in place of the title. In the search suggested above, love returns “Ah, Love, but a day,” as well as “My lovely dame! I see.”
Description: As in the Name and Title fields, entering words in any order will return all descriptions containing those words (and forms of them). The Description includes inscriptions, editorial comments, publication details, and cross-references to other entries. Many of the inscriptions and manuscripts contain significant dates. To see all such entries for the year 1845, simply enter 1845 in the field.
Current Location: Click on the form of the cue title found in the Current Location drop-down list.
Section: To search through one section only, select an option from the drop-down list. Leaving the field blank returns all.
Entry Numbers: All entries are preceded by a number with a section letter prefix. This field is useful for tracing cross-references; enter the number as it appears. Entering only the letter prefix returns all entries in that section.
Sorted by: When only one field is filled, the sort order defaults to Entry Number order except in the case of Date, Title, Name (which default to their own orders), and Role (which defaults to Name order). When more than one field has been filled, the sort order defaults to Entry Number order. To change a search result sort order, select an option from the drop-down list.