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Folger Exhibitions

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Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own
marmite food memory
Shakespeare and Beyond

Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own

Posted
Author
Julia Fine

In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio grabs a leg of roast mutton and throws it to the ground. Doing so, he exclaims, “it engenders choler, planteth anger,/ And better ‘twere that both of us did fast.” As food…

A Guide to Ladies: Hannah Woolley's missing book emerges from the archives
A Guide to Ladies by Hannah Woolley
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Guide to Ladies: Hannah Woolley's missing book emerges from the archives

Posted
Author
David B. Goldstein

One of Hannah Woolley’s books has sat hidden in plain sight at the Folger since 1990—included in the Folger online catalog, but missing from an international database that scholars often use to search for early English books. It is the…

Seed cake inspired by Thomas Tusser
seed cake
Shakespeare and Beyond

Seed cake inspired by Thomas Tusser

Posted
Author
Marissa Nicosia

See a 17th-century recipe for seed cake inspired by the farmer poet Thomas Tusser. Ingredients include rosewater, caraway seeds, and sherry.

Citrus and sugar: Making marmalade with Hannah Woolley
marmalade
Shakespeare and Beyond

Citrus and sugar: Making marmalade with Hannah Woolley

Posted
Author
Marissa Nicosia

Hannah Woolley’s 17-century recipe for marmalade captures the flavors of exotic citrus with the preservative power of sugar, which had only recently been made widely available to upper- and middle-class British people.

Akara from Africa: Black-eyed pea fritters, inspired by Hercules
akara
Shakespeare and Beyond

Akara from Africa: Black-eyed pea fritters, inspired by Hercules

Posted
Author
Amanda Herbert

Learn more about black-eyed peas’ place in the early modern world and enjoy this akara recipe inspired by Hercules, a chef enslaved by George Washington.

British Beef, French Style: Robert May's Braised Brisket
Robert May's brisket. Recipe developed by Marissa Nicosia. Photo by Teresa Wood.
Shakespeare and Beyond

British Beef, French Style: Robert May's Braised Brisket

Posted
Author
Marissa Nicosia

British beef cooked in a French style: Marissa Nicosia shares an early modern recipe for brisket from “The Accomplisht Cook,” by 17th-century English chef Robert May.

The "American Nectar": William Hughes's hot chocolate
Shakespeare and Beyond

The "American Nectar": William Hughes's hot chocolate

Posted
Author
Marissa Nicosia

The perfect post for a winter’s day: Marissa Nicosia shares an early modern recipe for hot chocolate, associated with 17th-century author, botanist, and pirate William Hughes.

Shakespeare and the American Revolution
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and the American Revolution

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

By the time the first battles of the American Revolution took place in 1775, Shakespeare had been imported from England on stage and page to the New World.

Shakespeare the salesman: Advertising Coca Cola, iPhones, and chewing tobacco
Marcus Ward calendar
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare the salesman: Advertising Coca Cola, iPhones, and chewing tobacco

Posted
Author
Esther French

Shakespeare is a familiar sight in the theater and on the movie screen, but he’s permeated many other areas of American life. Advertisers have picked up on the ubiquity of Shakespeare for more than two centuries.

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood
Hamlet costumes
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood

Posted
Author
Esther French

“The Bard Goes West” showcases two ways that Hollywood adapts Shakespeare: staying fairly true to the play, and using the plots but not his language.

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps
Hamlet Wagon
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps

Posted
Author
Esther French

Theater was very popular in California’s Gold Rush era, and miners couldn’t get enough of Shakespeare. Even gold-mining towns had stages or performance spaces.

Will and Jane go to war
Penguin Editions
Shakespeare and Beyond

Will and Jane go to war

Posted
Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

During World War I, the works of Shakespeare and Austen reached American troops on active duty through the American Library Association’s “War Service Library” program.  Between 1917 and 1920, the program collected donations of used books to help them distribute…

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