The Collation
Research and Exploration at the Folger
The Collation is a gathering of useful information and observations from Folger staff and researchers. Read more about this blog
Untangling Lady Day dating and the Julian calendar
Folger X.c.92 (3) is my new favorite manuscript: it’s a letter written in Paris that single-handedly demonstrates the fact that “new style” dates refer to two different calendar modernizations. One modernization has to do with the Christian calendar’s reckoning of…
And that's IIIF to you, too
Our Crocodile mystery last week showed some crocodile tears, but the exciting part is just below our sad reptile. This illustrated Italian ducal motto is from Symbola divina & Humana pontificum, imperatorum, regum, by Jacob Typot (Frankfurt, 1652)—and you can get…
"What manner o'thing is your crocodile?": February 2019
In February, our crocodile mystery involves a few real crocodile tears. For this month’s mystery, we ask you look at the image below and let us know if you can guess what the symbols mean for the future of this…
The Mapper and the Rambler
A guest post by Isaac Stephens Are you a person who makes sure to have all your proverbial ducks in a row, everything meticulously planned out before you engage in a project, make your goals a reality, or depart on…
Theatrical Bills and Receipts
Folger manuscripts W.b.110 and W.b.111 are an oddly mis-matched pair. W.b.110 is nearly 46cm tall (almost 18 inches, for those playing along at home) and nearly 160 leaves, while W.b.111 is a good 10cm shorter and about a third the…
Folger collections in times of war
As you guessed, the image from last week’s Crocodile Post is a hand-drawn plan for a vault. This particular one was intended to store the Folger’s rare books during World War II. The hand-drawn plan is the work of Stanley…
"What manner o'thing is your crocodile?": January 2019
For this month’s croc post, please give us your thoughts on what’s going on in this drawing here. We’ll be back next week with the full story!
The Charming Mr. Stoker and the Monster Within
A guest post by Jason McElligott Let me begin with a confession that may not endear me to many friends of the Folger: I don’t enjoy Shakespeare. To be completely honest, I find him hard work. Now, I am not…
The Journey is Underway for Before 'Farm to Table'
By now, you may have read about—or participated in—several activities linked to the project Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures. They have included food-related pop-up exhibitions at Folger public programs (the next one is for A Christmas…
The key to removing a card catalog rod (literally)
Thanks for all the great guesses at the identity of the December Crocodile! In fact, the mystery object is a tool for removing the rod from a particular type of card catalog drawer (see Folgerpedia’s Card catalogs article for information…
“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: December 2018
For this month’s Crocodile mystery, we ask you to identify this object: And yes, the lack of scale in the photograph is deliberate. We don’t want to make it too easy.
Spanish Book Collection at the Folger
Andres Alvarez-Davila was a Dumbarton-Oaks intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2017-2018. One of Andres’ projects was to determine the scope of the Spanish book collection at Folger, which is, for the most part, only searchable in the card…