Reynold Arnould: The Curious Case of the Purloined Painting and Baylor’s Most Famous Painter

During their brief tenure in Waco, artist Reynold Arnould and his wife, novelist and art critic Martha, were the most famous faculty members at Baylor University – and almost certainly the most glamorous. The Arnoulds brought international attention to the campus before the siren call of Paris eventually, perhaps inevitably, lured them back home. But

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Cotton Bowl Blues

Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. As the Bears play in the Texas Bowl today, we look

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The Baylor Line Magazine Is Back: An Editor’s Note for our Winter 2024 issue

For the first time in two years, “The Baylor Line” is back with a brand new magazine. This issue, called The Big Picture, features some of our favorite stories of 2024. Much like our own lives, this magazine is riddled with new beginnings, a few endings, and all the little things that make up the middle — The Big Picture. We hope you’ll join us as we embark on a new journey, telling stories for every Baylor grad with coverage beyond campus.

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Whisky in Waco: Balcones Distillery

Texas whisky was not a thing before Balcones, as improbable as that may sound. It certainly still feels odd to Jared Himstedt. “It’s kind of a funny deal when you think of the stereotypes of the South and the Old West and cattle driving,” Himstedt said. “You just think there was a lot of whisky, right? So the fact that there wasn’t anybody doing whisky in Texas when we got started… How the heck? That’s crazy.” 

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A Marriage of True Minds

Theirs was a love story for the ages with all the passion and intrigue of a Victorian-era romance — a courtship that included 573 love letters and a secret marriage at St. Marylebone Church in London on September 12, 1846, over her tyrannical father’s objections. He later disinherited her, and she never saw him again after she and her husband started a new life in Italy, where their son was born three years later. His given name was Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning, but they called him Pen. Though inseparable during their lifetimes, the lovers are buried nearly a thousand miles apart: Elizabeth in the Protestant Cemetery in Florence and Robert in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, London. Six years his senior, Elizabeth was just 55 when she died in her husband’s arms at their home in Florence of chronic lung disease. Father and son moved back to London where Browning established himself as a leading literary figure. He never married again, nor did he visit Florence after his wife’s death. Then in 1889 while visiting Pen at his home in Venice, Browning died of natural causes. He was 77 years old.

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Baylor’s Role in the Ongoing Battle Against Food Insecurity

Editor’s note: As you enjoy gathering with friends and family for Thanksgiving feasts, we encourage you to think of our less fortunate neighbors who may not be able to experience the same bounty during the holidays.   Every year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) releases a report on the household food security of the

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