The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent
research library
A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...
on
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the
early modern period (1500–1750) in Britain and Europe. The library was established by
Henry Clay Folger
Henry Clay Folger Jr. (June 18, 1857 – June 11, 1930) was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Early life
Henry Clay Folger Jr. was born in New ...
in association with his wife,
Emily Jordan Folger
Emily Jordan Folger (May 15, 1858 – February 21, 1936), was the wife of Henry Clay Folger and the co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library. During her husband's lifetime, she assisted him in building the world's largest collection of Shakesp ...
. It opened in 1932, two years after his death.
The library offers advanced scholarly programs and national outreach to
K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...
classroom teachers on Shakespeare education. Other performances and events at the Folger include the award-winning Folger Theatre, which produces Shakespeare-inspired theater; Folger Consort, the early-music ensemble-in-residence; the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series; the PEN/Faulkner Reading Series; and numerous other exhibits, seminars, talks and lectures, and family programs. It also has several publications, including the Folger Library editions of Shakespeare's plays, the journal ''
Shakespeare Quarterly
''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, ''Shakespeare Qu ...
'', the teacher resource books ''Shakespeare Set Free'', and
catalogs of exhibitions. The Folger is also a leader in methods of
preserving rare materials.
The library is privately endowed and administered by the Trustees of
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
. The library building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
History
Standard Oil of New York
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
executive
Henry Clay Folger
Henry Clay Folger Jr. (June 18, 1857 – June 11, 1930) was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Early life
Henry Clay Folger Jr. was born in New ...
, a graduate of
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, was an avid collector of
Shakespeareana
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, beginning in 1889 with the purchase of a 1685
Fourth Folio. Toward the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he and his wife
Emily Jordan Folger
Emily Jordan Folger (May 15, 1858 – February 21, 1936), was the wife of Henry Clay Folger and the co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library. During her husband's lifetime, she assisted him in building the world's largest collection of Shakesp ...
began searching for a location for a Shakespeare library based on their collection. They chose a location adjacent to the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
in Washington, D.C. The land was then occupied by townhouses, and Folger spent several years buying the separate lots. The site was designated for expansion by the Library of Congress, but in 1928,
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
passed a resolution allowing its use for Folger's project.
The
cornerstone
The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.
Over time ...
of the library was laid in May 1930, but Folger died soon afterward. The bulk of Folger's fortune was left in
trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another
* Trust (bus ...
, with Amherst College as administrator, for the library. Early members of the board included Amherst graduate and former president
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
, second chairman of the Board of Trustees. Because of the
stock market crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
, Folger's estate was smaller than he had planned, although still substantial. Emily Folger, who had worked with her husband on his collection, supplied the funds to complete the project. The library opened on April 23, 1932, the anniversary of what is believed to be Shakespeare's date of birth. Emily Folger remained involved in its administration until shortly before her death in 1936. In 2005, the Folger Board of Governors undertook administration of the Folger under the auspices of the Amherst Board of Trustees, though the Amherst board continues to manage the Folger's budget.
The Folger's first official reader was B. Roland Lewis, who later published ''The Shakespeare Documents: Facsimiles, Transliterations, Translations, and Commentary'' based on his research. The first fellowships were distributed in 1936. Early Folger exhibitions featured enticing items in the collection, including
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
's copy of Shakespeare's works, an Elizabethan
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
, and
Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...
's ''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
'' costume. Current practices for Folger exhibitions did not begin until 1964, when the first exhibition curated on site opened. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 30,000 items from the Folger collection were transported under guard to Amherst College's Converse Library, where they were stored for the duration of the war in case of an enemy attack on
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Many of the Folger's current public events and programs began in the 1970s under the leadership of director O.B. Hardison. Under his direction, the Folger's theater was brought up to Washington, D.C. fire code, permitting performances by the Folger Theatre Group, the library's first professional company. The Folger Poetry Series also began in 1970. Hardison formed the Folger Institute, which coordinates academic programs and research at the Library. Folger Consort, the Library's early music ensemble, began performances in 1977.
[Grant 2014, p. 195.]
The first Director of the Library, from 1940 to 1946, was
Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr.
Buildings and grounds
![Folger facade (Cret)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Folger_facade_%28Cret%29.jpg)
The main Folger building was designed by architect
Paul Philippe Cret
Paul Philippe Cret (October 23, 1876 – September 8, 1945) was a French-born Philadelphia architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylv ...
. The white marble exterior includes nine street-level
bas-reliefs
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
of scenes from Shakespeare's plays created by the sculptor
John Gregory, an aluminum replica of a statue of
Puck by
Brenda Putnam
Brenda Putnam (June 3, 1890 – October 18, 1975) was an American sculptor, teacher and author.
Biography
She was the daughter of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe. Her older sister Shirley and sh ...
, as well as many inscriptions personally selected by Henry Folger. The large
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
window and door grilles are aluminum.
Inside, the building is designed in a
Tudor style with oak paneling and plaster ceilings. The Elizabethan Theatre lobby contains the original marble Puck statue (restored and moved indoors in 2001), and architectural painting by muralist
Austin M. Purves, Jr. The two reading rooms (one added in the early 1980s) are reserved for use by scholars who have obtained advance permission. Public spaces include the large exhibition gallery, a gift shop, and an
Elizabethan theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642.
This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. ...
.
Architecture
![Folgers Shakespeare theater 005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Folgers_Shakespeare_theater_005.jpg)
Henry Folger's search for an architect began with an acquaintance, Alexander B. Trowbridge, who had redesigned a home in
Glen Cove, Long Island, in the old English style the Folgers were eager to feature in their Library. Folger contracted Trowbridge in 1928, but Trowbridge preferred to consult, rather than be the primary architect, and so recommended French émigré Paul Phillippe Cret. Trowbridge and Cret shared a similar vision for the design of the Library—a
neoclassical building that
stripped the facade of any decorative elements. Though the Folgers had initially desired an entirely Elizabethan building, they ultimately agreed that a neoclassical building would blend with other existing buildings on Capitol Hill. To retain an Elizabethan quality on the exterior of the building, Cret and Trowbridge proposed to decorate the facade with scenes from Shakespeare's works. Currently, the relief sculptures includes scenes from
''Henry IV'', ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'', ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...
'',
''Julius Caesar'', ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
'', ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'',
''Richard III'', and ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''.
In 1959, the Folger contracted
Harbeson, Hough, Livingston, and Larson, a Philadelphia firm that succeeded Cret's, to design a new wing by building over a rear parking lot. The additions also yielded a roof garden on top of the new wing. A second Folger building, the Haskell Center, opened in 2000 across Third Street from the original building. The nineteenth-century office building was adapted by architect Andrew K. Stevenson to house the library's education and public programs staffs.
The Folger currently maintains a row of townhouses on Third Street to provide housing for scholars, readers, fellows, participants in Folger Institute programs, and other visitors.
Reading Room
![Folger's Paster Reading Room](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Folger%27s_Paster_Reading_Room.jpg)
The Reading Room officially opened in January 1933 and today contains reference works for easy accessibility to readers. From 1977 to 1983, the Folger Shakespeare Library was renovated. Design was provided by Hartman-Cox Architects. During this renovation, it included the addition of new book stacks, renovation of office spaces, and an expansion to the Reading Room. A second, more modern reading room dedicated as the Theodora Sedgwick Bond-
William Ross Bond Memorial Reading Room was completed in 1982.
[Grant 2014, p. 196.] Upon
Gail Kern Paster
Gail Kern Paster (born 1944) is an American Shakespeare scholar, historian and writer.
Life
She was born on 8 November 1944. Paster graduated from North Shore High School (New York) in 1962. She received her bachelor's degree from Smith Colle ...
's retirement as director of the Folger in 2011, the original reading room was renamed the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room.
Henry Folger wanted the Library's reading room to feel at once like a private home and the Great Hall of an English college. It features stained-glass windows and a large stone fireplace which has never been used. The large stained-glass window overlooking what is now the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room was designed and created by
Nicola D'Ascenzo
Nicola D'Ascenzo (September 25, 1871, Torricella Peligna, Italy – April 13, 1954, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an Italian-born American stained glass designer, painter and instructor. He is best known for creating stained glass windows fo ...
, who depicted the familiar "
Seven Ages of Man
"All the world's a stage" is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare's pastoral comedy ''As You Like It'', spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII Line 139. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a ...
" soliloquy from ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
''.
Elizabethan Theatre
Initially, the Elizabethan Theatre was not intended for theatrical performance. The original model was the
Fortune Playhouse
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
, and then the
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...
; these models proved difficult to replicate exactly, and the Folgers ultimately decided to incorporate features from multiple theaters to give visitors a general picture of a theater during the Elizabethan era. Before Folger Theatre productions began, the Elizabethan Theatre was used for concert performances and academic lectures. The theater, which seats around 260, has no pit. Painted on the ceiling is a well-known quote from ''As You Like It'': "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
The first theatrical performance in the Elizabethan Theatre was a 1949 production of ''
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
'' by the Amherst Masquers. The Folger Theatre Group formed in 1970 when the Elizabethan Theatre became compliant with Washington, D.C. fire safety laws. Early productions included ''Dionysus Wants You!'', which adapted ''
The Bacchae
''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...
'' into a rock musical, and ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...
''.
Elizabethan Garden
At the east end of the building is an Elizabethan Garden featuring plants from Shakespeare's plays, opened in 1989 amid the four magnolias planted by Emily Jordan Folger in 1932. In 2003, several sculptures by
Greg Wyatt
Greg Wyatt is an American representational sculptor who works primarily in cast bronze, and is the sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.
Wyatt was born in Nyack, New York and raised in Grand View- ...
based on Shakespeare's plays joined the Elizabethan plants in the garden.
West garden
Sculptor
Brenda Putnam
Brenda Putnam (June 3, 1890 – October 18, 1975) was an American sculptor, teacher and author.
Biography
She was the daughter of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe. Her older sister Shirley and sh ...
was hired in May 1930 to design a sculpture of
Puck for a garden on the west side of the building. Decades of exposure weakened the statue, and after Puck's right hand was found across the street at the Library of Congress in 2000, the original piece was moved. It now sits above the entrance to the Elizabethan Theatre, and an aluminum statue replaced the original in the garden.
[Grant 2014, p. 200.]
The west garden's lawn shrank during the 1959 additions to the library, when part of its space was paved for a new staff parking area.
Library
Collection
The Folger houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare-related material, from the 16th century to the present. The library is best known for its 82 copies of the 1623
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
(of which only 235 known copies survive) and over 200
quarto
Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
s of Shakespeare's individual plays. Not restricted to Shakespeare, the Folger owns the world's third largest collection of English books printed before 1641, as well as substantial holdings of
continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' (al ...
and later English imprints. The collection includes a wealth of items related to performance history: 250,000 playbills, 2,000 promptbooks, costumes, recordings and props. It also holds upwards of 90,000 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures and other works of art.
The Folger's first catalog of its collection began in 1935, when Edwin Willoughby, a scholar of
library science
Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...
and the First Folio, began to catalog the book collection based on
Alfred W. Pollard
Alfred William Pollard, FBA (14 August 1859 – 8 March 1944) was an English bibliographer, widely credited for bringing a higher level of scholarly rigor to the study of Shakespearean texts.
Biography
Pollard was born at 1 Brompton Sq ...
and
Gilbert Richard Redgrave
Gilbert Richard Redgrave (12 May 1844 in Kensington, London – 14 June 1941 in Abinger Common, Surrey) was an English architectural draughtsman, bibliographer and art historian.
Redgrave was son of the painter Richard Redgrave and his wife R ...
's
''Short-Title Catalogue''. Though Willoughby developed a unique
classification system Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood.
Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes.
It may also refer to:
Business, organizat ...
based on the Folger's needs, in the late 1940s the Folger adopted that of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
. In 1996, Folger staff and readers were given access to Hamnet, the collection's online catalog; the site became available to the public in 2000.
[ Today, the Folger uses several classification systems.
]
Printed books
In all, the library collection includes more than 250,000 books, from the mid 15th century—when the printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
was invented—to the present day. In addition to its 82 First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
s, 229 early modern quartos of Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare's plays are a canon of approximately 39 dramatic works written by English poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare. The exact number of plays—as well as their classifications as Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy, Shakespearean ...
and poems
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...
and 119 copies of the Second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
, Third, and Fourth Folios, the Folger holds some 7,000 later editions of Shakespeare from the 18th century to present, in more than 70 different languages. Beyond its Shakespearean texts, the library's collection includes over 18,000 early English books printed before 1640 and another 29,000 printed between 1641 and 1700. The library holds 35,000 early modern books printed on the European continent, about 450 of which are incunabula
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...
. The topics of these texts vary widely, ranging across literature, politics, religion, technology, military history and tactics, medicine, and over 2,000 volumes on the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
.
Manuscripts
The Folger holds some 60,000 manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
s (from Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
and John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
to Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
and Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
). These handwritten documents date from the 15th to the 21st century and cover a variety of subjects: documents related to performance history and literature, personal correspondences, wills, love letters, and other materials of daily life. Notable manuscripts include the earliest known staging diagram in England, a list of quotations George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
compiled while writing ''Middlemarch
''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, ...
'', the 18th-century Shakespeare forgeries of William Henry Ireland
William Henry Ireland (1775–1835) was an English forger of would-be Shakespearean documents and plays. He is less well known as a poet, writer of gothic novels and histories. Although he was apparently christened William-Henry, he was known a ...
, and the papers of legendary 18th-century actor David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
.
The Folger hosts Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO), an IMLS
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mis ...
-grant funded project to digitize and transcribe English manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries in a freely available digital collection. EMMO holds conferences, paleography
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
classes, "transcrib-athons", and other events at the Folger and elsewhere.
Highlights of the collection
Significant items in the Folger's collection include:
* The only extant complete copy of Shakespeare's ''Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...
'' first quarto, published in 1594
* The False Folio
False Folio is the term that Shakespeare scholars and bibliographers have applied to William Jaggard's printing of ten Shakespearean and pseudo-Shakespearean plays together in 1619, the first attempt to collect Shakespeare's work in a single v ...
* The Macro Manuscript
The Macro Manuscript is a collection of three 15th-century English morality plays, known as the "Macro plays" or "Macro moralities": ''Mankind'', ''The Castle of Perseverance'', and ''Wisdom''. So named for its 18th-century owner Reverend Cox Mac ...
, a unique source for the three early morality plays
The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
: ''The Castle of Perseverance
''The Castle of Perseverance'' is a c. 15th-century morality play and the earliest known full-length (3,649 lines) vernacular play in existence. Along with ''Mankind'' and ''Wisdom'', ''The Castle of Perseverance'' is preserved in the Macro Manus ...
'', ''Mankind
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...
'' and ''Wisdom
Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
''. The manuscript also contains the earliest known staging diagram for any play in England.
* The Dering Manuscript, a single-play redaction of ''Henry IV, Part 1
''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the battle at ...
'' and '' Henry IV, Part 2'' that is the earliest known manuscript for any of Shakespeare's works.
* The Ashbourne portrait
The Ashbourne portrait is one of several portraits that have been falsely identified as portrayals of William Shakespeare. At least 60 such works had been offered for sale to the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery in the ...
, the basis of several Oxfordian arguments
* Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
's childhood copy of Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
's ''De officiis
''De Officiis'' (''On Duties'' or ''On Obligations'') is a political and ethical treatise by the Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero written in 44 BC. The treatise is divided into three books, in which Cicero expounds h ...
'', bearing an inscription in his hand, "Thys boke is myne Prynce Henry"
* The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608, an oversized illustrated manuscript of 594 pages, depicting everything from the mundanities of daily life to biblical stories to contemporary political history
* The earliest ''Sieve Portrait'' of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
* Thirteen of John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
's letters detailing the personal crisis he faced upon marrying Anne More without her father's permission
* Thousands of pages of letters to and from prolific 18th-century actor David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
Research and education
Programs for advanced scholars, faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates are provided by the Folger Institute. Programs for K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...
teachers and students are provided by the Education department.
Folger Institute
The Folger Institute has served as the focus of scholarly research at the Folger since 1970. The Folger offers long- and short-term fellowships for advanced researchers across all disciplines, and hosts the two-week Amherst-Folger Undergraduate Fellowship program every January. The Institute holds a variety of colloquia, courses, workshops, and conferences for faculty, graduate students, and secondary educators. Scholarly programs run by the Folger Institute include the Folger Institute Consortium, a group that shares research and other resources among over 40 universities, the Center for Shakespeare Studies, which seeks depth and diversity in Shakespeare scholarship, and the Center for the History of British Political Thought, which promotes continued scholarship of three hundred years of British politics
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the head ...
.
Education
Educational outreach at the Folger began in the early 1970s;[ today, the Folger Education department continues those early efforts with a variety of programs for K–12 students and teachers that emphasize an ]active learning
Active learning is "a method of learning in which students are actively or experientially involved in the learning process and where there are different levels of active learning, depending on student involvement." states that "students partici ...
approach to Shakespeare. Teachers gather at the Folger for day-long and month-long programs to work to incorporate Shakespeare and performance in the classroom. The department also publishes a variety of materials for classroom use. Student programs include workshops, local residency initiatives, and a high school fellowship program during which students study Shakespeare at the Folger. The Emily Jordan Folger Children's Shakespeare Festival, founded in 1980, allows elementary students to perform every spring. The Secondary School Shakespeare Festival, founded the following year, brings students from grades 7–12 to perform half-hour collections of Shakespeare scenes in the Folger theater.[
]
Teaching Shakespeare Institute
The Teaching Shakespeare Institute (TSI) is an intensive four-week summer study program for middle- and high-school teachers hosted annually by the Folger Shakespeare Library's Education Department, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
. TSI participants work with experts to study a small number of Shakespearean plays in terms of scholarship, performance, and the classroom. 50 teachers participated in the inaugural program in 1984, but the annual number is now capped at 25. By 2015, over 775 teachers had gone through the program.
Performances and events
The Folger Shakespeare Library's cultural and arts programs include Folger Theatre, Folger Consort, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation
PEN/Faulkner Foundation (est. 1980) is an independent charitable arts foundation which supports the art of writing and encourages readers of all ages.[First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...]
. Productions have received 135 nominations for a Helen Hayes Award
The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...
and won 23, including Outstanding Resident Play for its renditions of ''Measure for Measure
''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the ''First Folio'' of 1623.
The play's plot features its ...
'' (2007), ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' (2011) and ''The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'' (2013). From 1982-2021, the Folger Theatre's Artistic Producer was Janet Alexander Griffin. In 2021, Karen Ann Daniels was named Director of Programming and Artistic Director. Performances occur in the theater at the east end of the building.
Folger Consort
Folger Consort is the library's resident early music
Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...
ensemble, founded in 1977 by its artistic directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall.[ The Consort performs ]medieval music
Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...
, Renaissance music
Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...
, and baroque music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
in its concert series. The Consort performs regularly at the Elizabethan Theatre, at the Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
and at the Music Center at Strathmore. The Consort also holds seminars, discussions, and radio broadcasts. Since 2006, Folger Consort has won Best Classical Chamber Ensemble five times at the Washington Area Music Awards.
O.B. Hardison Poetry Series
Since 1970, the Folger has hosted contemporary poets for readings, moderated conversation, and Q&As in what is now called the O.B. Hardison Poetry series, after former director of the Folger, O.B. Hardison, Jr. Past poets involved in the series include Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
, Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...
, Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
, W. S. Merwin
William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...
, Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "th ...
, Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for ''Neo ...
, James Merrill
James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for ''Divine Comedies.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyri ...
, Frank Bidart
Frank Bidart (born May 27, 1939) is an American academic and poet, and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Biography
Bidart is a native of California and considered a career in acting or directing when he was young. In 1957, he began to s ...
, Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of ...
, Derek Walcott
Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem ''Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...
, Hayden Carruth
Hayden Carruth (August 3, 1921 – September 29, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic and anthologist. He taught at Syracuse University.
Life
Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Woodbury, Connecticut. He gra ...
, Rita Dove
Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the posit ...
, Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. , Sterling Brown, Denise Levertov
Priscilla Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.
Early life and influences
Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford, Ess ...
, June Jordan
June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation.
Jordan was passionate about using Black English i ...
, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...
, Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver; September 9, 1934) is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written over a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essay ...
, and James Dickey
James Lafayette Dickey (February 2, 1923 January 19, 1997) was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth United States Poet Laureate in 1966. He also received the Order of the South award.
Dickey is best known for his no ...
. Between 1991 and 2009, the series also awarded the O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, which was awarded by the library to a U.S. poet who has published at least one book within the last five years, has made important contributions as a teacher, and is committed to furthering the understanding of poetry.
PEN/Faulkner
In conjunction with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation
PEN/Faulkner Foundation (est. 1980) is an independent charitable arts foundation which supports the art of writing and encourages readers of all ages.[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...]
readings, which celebrate the year's finalists and winners.
Digital resources
The Folger offers several online tools to assist in research and scholarship, including the following:
Hamnet
an online catalogue of the Folger's holdings
* Th
Digital Image Collection
(also known as "LUNA"), which provides over 80,000 images of the collection, including manuscripts, books and art. The images in the collection are available under a Creative Commons license
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
.
Folgerpedia
the Folger's in-house wiki
A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
; a collaboratively-edited encyclopedia providing information about the institution, the collection, and other relevant information.
Folger Digital Texts
online editions of Shakespeare's plays and poems
Early Modern Manuscripts Online
provides images of manuscripts and promotes transcribing paleography
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
Leadership
To date, seven directors and three acting directors have overseen Library affairs. Michael Witmore, a scholar with particular interest in the digital analysis of Shakespeare's texts, became the Folger's seventh director on July 1, 2011.
# William A. Slade (1931–1934)
# Joseph Quincy Adams
Joseph Quincy Adams Jr. (March 23, 1880 – November 10, 1946) was a prominent Shakespeare scholar and the first officially appointed director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
Biography
Adams, a scion of the famous Adams ...
(1934–1936, acting; 1936–1946, director)
# James McManaway (1946–1948, acting)
# Louis Booker Wright
Louis Booker Wright (March 1, 1899 – December 26, 1984) was an American author, educator and librarian.
Wright was the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, the author of numerous books about the American colonial period, and in 1928 he w ...
(1948–1968)
# Philip A. Knachel (1968–1969, acting)
# O.B. Hardison, Jr. (1969–1983)
# Philip A. Knachel (1983–1984, acting)
# Werner Gundersheimer (1984–2002)
# Gail Kern Paster (2002–2011)
# Michael Witmore (2011–present)
See also
* Book collecting
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...
References
Cited sources
*
External links
Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Library YouTube channel
Hamnet: Folger Shakespeare Library Catalog
Folger Institute
Folgerpedia, The Folger Library's own wiki space
LUNA, The Digital Image Collection
{{Authority control
Paul Philippe Cret buildings
Library buildings completed in 1932
Art Deco architecture in Washington, D.C.
Streamline Moderne architecture in Washington, D.C.
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Shakespearean scholarship
Amherst College
Art museums and galleries in Washington, D.C.
Biographical museums in Washington, D.C.
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Members of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
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1932 establishments in Washington, D.C.
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