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.

Folger Frost Fair

Fri, Nov 29, 2024 – Sun, Jan 5, 2025

Celebrate the season with a month-long winter festival at the Folger. Enjoy festive decorations, holiday music, free activities, and more.

Free activities

Folger History Pop-Ups

Listen to free pop-up talks about the Folger’s history and architecture in each exhibition gallery, the Theatre, and the Reading Room. Noon to 5pm on Nov 29–Dec 1, Dec 26–29, and Dec 31. (Note: Pop-ups will not take place in the Reading Room on Nov 29 and Dec 31.)

Photo Station

Make some holiday memories at a festive winter photo station in the Folger’s East Lobby. Begins Dec 6.

Book Nook

Read books or play games provided in the nook, situated in the Great Hall near the Quill & Crumb seating area. Begins Dec 6.

Photo by Peggy Ryan

Holiday Seek-and-Find

Kids, take the lead through the galleries and historic spaces at the Folger to seek out characters pictured in the guide. Begins Dec 10.

Printing Press Demonstrations

Visit the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall to see the printing press in action. You might even get to take printed souvenirs home with you!

Schedule

Printing press demonstrations will take place from 2-4pm on the following days:

  • Wed, Dec 11
  • Thu, Dec 12
  • Wed, Dec 18
  • Thu, Dec 19
  • Thu, Jan 2

What is a frost fair?

The idea for the Folger Frost Fair was inspired by the frost fairs held in London when the River Thames completely froze in winters between the 1600s and 1800s. Londoners used the frozen river as an opportunity to take daily life to the ice—setting up stalls and booths selling food and drink and conducting commerce. People played games and held contests, and there were even printing presses on the ice from which souvenir postcards and prints were sold.

The carnival-like atmosphere on the ice in the 17th century drew people out in spite of the cold. We want to welcome people with the same cheerful bustle of activity, along with the warmth and light of the holiday season.

Folger Director Farah Karim-Cooper

Shopping for holiday gifts

Two women looking at items for sale in the Folger Shop
Photo by Erika Nizborski

Members receive an extra 10% discount on all purchases. Become a member

Nov 29 – Dec 1

  • 10% off all purchases made in the Folger Shop

Dec 20–22

  • 10% off all purchases made in the Folger Shop
  • Complimentary gift-wrapping
2024 Folger Holiday Gift Guide
Six colorful felt holiday ornaments on a beige background,: a Renaissance jester in red and green outfit with round gold tassels on hat, collar and bottom of top, and shoe tips. Next, the character Nick Bottom from Midsummer in brown tunic and lace-up sandals with a donkey head encircled with flowers and a Renaissance woman, Anne Hathaway, in a dark blue dress with gold stitching and mustard yellow sleeves; she is beside a Renaissance gentleman with bald head and brown hair on the sides wearing a dark blue doublet with lots of gold stitching and matching pumpkin pants, white stockings, and dark buckled shoes. He is Shakespeare. On the far right is a couple, Romeo in Renaissance short cape, elaborate doublet, dark pants tucked in dark boots, and Juliet, with long brown air, wearing a burgundy dress with gold details and an elaborate cream underskirt covered in gold embroidery.
Shakespeare and Beyond

2024 Folger Holiday Gift Guide

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

We’ve got the perfect gift for everyone on your list in this guide to some of our favorites from the Folger Shop.

Events

A Mass for Christmas Eve

A Mass for Christmas Eve

For its annual holiday concert, Folger Consort presents Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noel, based on captivating, folksong-like noels steeped in the composer’s characteristic balance of irresistible dance rhythms and sophisticated harmonies.
Fri, Dec 6 – Sun, Dec 15, 2024
Sold Out
Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute Reading with Kimiko Hahn

Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute Reading with Kimiko Hahn

The O.B. Hardison Poetry series, in partnership with co-sponsor, The Emily Dickinson Museum, hosts its annual celebration of Emily Dickinson with a reading by the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award winner Kimiko Hahn.
Tue, Dec 10, 2024 at 7:30pm
Book Now
Family Workshop: To Be a Shakespearean Actor

Family Workshop: To Be a Shakespearean Actor

Join the Folger team as we dive into and try out Elizabethan acting styles. Then, learn about the power of Shakespeare’s words to inspire actors, trends, and riots!
Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 11:30am & 1pm
Register now