Skip to main content

Holiday Hours: The Folger is closing at 4:30pm on Dec 24 and Dec 31. We are closed all day on Dec 25 and Jan 1.

All 4 posts on

American presidents

Men of Letters: Shakespeare's Influence on Abraham Lincoln
Page

Men of Letters: Shakespeare's Influence on Abraham Lincoln

Learn more about Shakespeare’s enduring influence on Lincoln—and on Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Thomas Jefferson and Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Thomas Jefferson and Shakespeare

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

“Shakespeare must be singled out by one who wishes to learn the full powers of the English language,” Thomas Jefferson wrote.

America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

America’s Shakespeare: How George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams quoted Shakespeare during and after the American Revolution.

Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, and the president's assassination
Abraham Lincoln
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, and the president's assassination

Posted
Author
Esther French

Abraham Lincoln. Copyright 1894 by H.W. Fay. Folger Shakespeare Library. Growing up on the frontier, Abraham Lincoln had few books to read in his early days—but among them were the works of Shakespeare, which Lincoln cherished throughout his life. The…