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Early modern women

A ‘declineing time’? The final illnesses of Constance and Elizabeth Lucy
A small brown volume with gold lettering being held by a hand mostly out of frame
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A ‘declineing time’? The final illnesses of Constance and Elizabeth Lucy

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Author
Emma Marshall

Folger Fellow Emma Marshall explores the history of the women of the Lucy family.

Women Patrons as Playmakers
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Women Patrons as Playmakers

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Author
Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich

A guest post by Elizabeth Kolkovich In the summer of 1602, Alice Egerton, Countess of Derby, did something rather extraordinary. When Queen Elizabeth I visited her house, she brought to the forefront the female patrons who usually remained behind the…

Early women buying books: the evidence
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Early women buying books: the evidence

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Author
Georgianna Ziegler

In 1684, Bridget Trench bought herself a copy of the Rev. Samuel Clarke’s General Martyrologie, a collection of biographies of those who had been persecuted for their beliefs in the history of the church in England. Samuel Clarke, General Martyrologie…

What were women reading? A dive into the Folger vault
Shakespeare and Beyond

What were women reading? A dive into the Folger vault

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Author
Georgianna Ziegler

Peer with me into the books left behind by women readers in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. What kind of books were they reading? What sort of notes did they write in them? What can we learn about their…

A Wild and Woolley Week
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A Wild and Woolley Week

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Before 'Farm to Table' team

A guest post by the Before ‘Farm to Table’ team This week the Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures team turned their collective attention to Hannah Woolley (or Wolley), a British woman writer who was among the…

The First English Actresses
Nell Gwyn. Print, by R. Tomson after Peter Lely, from Cunningham, The story of Nell Gwyn. 1883. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare and Beyond

The First English Actresses

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Author
Georgianna Ziegler

In 1660, women (rather than men) began playing female roles, including female Shakespearean roles, on the professional English stage. Learn more about these early actresses.

Lady Mary Wroth and 'The Countess of Montgomery's Urania'
Public domain image of Lady Mary Wroth
Shakespeare and Beyond

Lady Mary Wroth and 'The Countess of Montgomery's Urania'

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Lady Mary Wroth watched Shakespeare act in his own plays, heard her relative Sir Walter Raleigh talk about founding Virginia, and almost certainly met Pocahantas and ambassadors from Morocco. Wroth’s later prose fiction echoes elements of her own life, including…

Studying early modern women—in Shakespeare's plays and in his time
Early modern women reading
Shakespeare and Beyond

Studying early modern women—in Shakespeare's plays and in his time

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Author
Esther Ferington

By Esther Ferington The roles of early modern women in Shakespeare’s time—both the fictional characters in his plays and the real-life women of his era—have been central to many projects created by Georgianna Ziegler, Louis B. Thalheimer Associate Librarian and…

Women marking the text
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Women marking the text

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Author
Georgianna Ziegler

“I beegan, to ourloke this Booke . . . .”  These words are written by Lady Anne Clifford on the title page of her copy of John Selden’s Titles of Honor (1631), which is featured in the first case of…