Welcome to the Folger
Enjoy great stories | Explore what makes you curious | Share the best in art, history, and literature with friends and family at the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.
The Folger is open! New exhibition galleries, gardens, and shop
Plan your visit
Get details and reserve timed-entry passes.
Explore our exhibitions
See what’s on view in our galleries.
Check out our shop
Gifts, games, merch, and more!
Quill & Crumb
Our new café is now open! The seasonal menu features shareable snack plates, salads, sandwiches, and a variety of coffees, teas, and baked goods.
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis
Folger Salon with Shaul Bassi and Sylvia Korman
Lifelong Learners: Shakespeare 101: A Reintroduction
Author Talk and Reading: "The Girls of Godzilla, Illinois" with Jami Nakamura Lin
Edmond Dédé and Morgiane
Folger Friday: New Year Wellness Celebration
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
Family Workshop: The Fantastical World of Shakespeare
The Reading Room Festival
News and announcements
Folger Shakespeare Library Names Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper as Director
Press release: May 20, 2024
About us
How did the world’s largest Shakespeare collection end up one block from the US Capitol? Explore the Folger’s origin story.
The latest from our blogs and podcast
The Old Globe’s Barry Edelstein on Shakespeare and Community
Learn how Edelstein adapted and directed Shakespeare’s rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, 2, and 3, turning it into a theatrical event with a cast and crew of over a thousand and bringing their community-based work even closer to the center of the organization.
A Collection-Inspired Zine
I made a zine inspired by the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection (and you can too!).
Folger Finds: New Year's Gift Rolls of Elizabeth I and Henry VIII
In early modern England, New Year’s Day was celebrated with a long-standing custom of giving gifts to the monarch. Each gift was carefully recorded on “gift rolls.” What were the top gifts in 1539 and 1585?
Top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts of 2024
Enjoy our top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts from 2024. Happy reading!
Shakespeare and his contemporaries, with Darren Freebury-Jones
Darren Freebury-Jones explores the ways in which Shakespeare reshaped the works of contemporaries like John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe into something distinctly his own.
Top five Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes of 2024
Enjoy the top five Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes from 2024, ranked by number of listens.
Our collection
The First Folio
The Folger has the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Learn more about the book that gave us Shakespeare.
A majestic portrait
The Folger collection includes about 200 paintings. This portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower is dated 1579, making it the oldest painting in our collection. Two years after he completed this portrait, Gower became Serjeant Painter to the Queen, making him the most important artist in England.
Our other Elizabeth I holdings include hand-signed letters, books, and even New Year’s gift rolls detailing her holiday gifts. It is the largest collection of Elizabeth I materials in North America.
Shakespeare’s works
View the full list of plays and poems to read, search, and download our bestselling editions of Shakespeare’s works.
Shakespeare’s most popular plays
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Julius Caesar
Othello
Hamlet
Explore
What was Shakespeare's theater like?
Learn about the Globe and other London playhouses where Shakespeare’s company performed. What was it like to be an actor there, or an audience member?
Teach
How can Shakespeare help 21st-century students be stronger readers?
Our Folger Method is revolutionizing how not just Shakespeare but all literature is taught using strategies that allow all students to own – and enjoy – complex texts.
Research
If we are what we eat, what can recipes from the past tell us?
Projects like Before ‘Farm to Table’ unite scholars and practitioners in investigations into the past to shed light on what matters to us today.
Support the things you love
Your gifts make access to our collection, learning opportunities, and exciting experiences happen.