Folger Exhibitions
Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?
America’s ShakespeareHow well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?The Booth BrothersLess than a year before John Wilkes Booth became infamous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, he and two of his brothers (normally onstage rivals) teamed up for a…
Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career
That’s a hot ticket! (Photo Credit: Library of Congress) Can you feel the feverish excitement in the air? This photograph from April 14, 1936, shows the crowded streets outside the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on opening night for the Federal Theatre…
Building a Replica of the John Wilkes Booth Diary
Guest Post by Folger conservator Austin Plann Curley “You can’t always get what you want.” So said the Rolling Stones in 1969. Such was the case for the Folger Shakespeare Library in our recent request to borrow the Diary of…
How 'The New York Times' commemorated the Shakespeare tercentenary in 1916
2016 marks 400 years after William Shakespeare’s death, and the world is celebrating the quatercentenary with Shakespeare performances, festivals, and fireworks. One hundred years ago, what was said about the Shakespeare tercentenary in the United States? We see one of these windows…
Would you buy a used car from William Shakespeare? How about mustard?
Would you buy a bicycle if William Shakespeare sold it to you? How about trading up to a Cadillac? Over the years, advertisers have counted on the novelty of Shakespeare, and his memorable characters, to sell their products. The brochure…
Life of an icon: Shakespeare as playwright and poet
Fifty of the most important manuscripts and printed works related to Shakespeare’s life and career are on display in the Folger exhibition Shakespeare, Life of an Icon, curated by Heather Wolfe. Some of these documents mark important milestones for Shakespeare…
Documenting the life of an icon: Shakespeare at 400 years
Shakespeare, Life of an Icon, the first of four special exhibitions at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2016, offers a fresh and intimate perspective on William Shakespeare as the London playwright, bestselling poet, and man from Stratford. This once-in-a-lifetime assemblage shares…
'Shakespeare Documented' online resource launches
The diary of physician and vicar John Ward contains the only known account of Shakespeare’s death. On March 6, 1662/63 he writes, “Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespear died…
“Extravagantly Large Paper”
While working on the exhibition “Age of Lawyers” (currently on view at the Folger Shakespeare Library), I came upon several interesting copies of Thomas Littleton’s Tenures, the first textbook written on English land law. There are five different copies of…
Fall Round-up for Early Modern Manuscripts Online
Over the past few months, EMMO has been busy with several first-ever activities connected to transcribing manuscripts at the Folger. In August, we transcribed excerpts from over twenty four manuscripts currently exhibited in the Age of Lawyers Exhibition (running until…
Constructing volvelles
As Elizabeth Bruxer correctly identified within a few short hours of its posting, this month’s crocodile mystery showed the inner disc of an unconstructed volvelle from a copy of the 1591 edition of Giambattista della Porta’s De furtivis literarum notis (STC…
Folger Talks Preview: Kathryn Will and Shakespeare's Coat of Arms
Dear Folger Diary Readers, Minions of the Moon, Fellows in Arms, and Excellent Good Friends, I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it… With the 2013-2014 Folger Season at an end and the 2014-2015 Season not yet…