Welcome to the Folger
Enjoy great stories | Explore what makes you curious | Share the best in art, history, and literature with friends and family at the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.
Plan your visit
Get details and reserve timed-entry passes.
Explore our exhibitions
See what’s on view in our galleries.
Take a tour
Reserve a group tour or student experience.
Check out our shop
Gifts, games, merch, and more!
Eat at Quill & Crumb
Enjoy lunch or a quick snack at our café.
What’s on
Join us for talks, poetry, music, and other programs.
Resplendent Joy
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
On View: Missy Dunaway
Printing Press Demonstrations
Writing By Hand: Early Modern Handwriting Tools and Techniques
Fountain Pen 101
Storytime at the Folger
About us
How did the world’s largest Shakespeare collection end up one block from the US Capitol? Explore the Folger’s origin story.
The latest from our blogs and podcast
Quiz: Holidays and Shakespeare
‘Tis the season to have fun with our quiz on the holidays and Shakespeare.
How to be a true widow in early modern England
- “Do not seek pleasure in music and singing” and other advice for widows from an early 17th century manuscript.
Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet on film
Austin Tichenor takes a look at Chloé Zhao’s film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet, writing that Jessie Buckley’s performance as Agnes is the fiercest and most fully-rounded onscreen portrait of Shakespeare’s wife ever seen.
Shakespeare in the news
Shakespeare stories in the news this fall, from the Hamnet film to a new discovery in Shakespeare Quarterly about Shakespeare’s father. Plus a surprising connection between the middle school phrase “6-7” and Richard II.
The architecture of learning: David Kilpatrick on designing and building educational programs
David Kilpatrick, the new Director of Learning and Education Programs, shares about his past experiences and his hopes for creating a larger network of partners for educational programming.
Resplendent Joy: Program Notes
Learn about the Spanish and Portuguese composers whose music is featured in Folger Consort’s holiday concert, Resplendent Joy.
Our collection
The First Folio
The Folger has the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Learn more about the book that gave us Shakespeare.
A majestic portrait
The Folger collection includes about 200 paintings. This portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower is dated 1579, making it the oldest painting in our collection. Two years after he completed this portrait, Gower became Serjeant Painter to the Queen, making him the most important artist in England.
Our other Elizabeth I holdings include hand-signed letters, books, and even New Year’s gift rolls detailing her holiday gifts. It is the largest collection of Elizabeth I materials in North America.
Shakespeare’s works
View the full list of plays and poems to read, search, and download our bestselling editions of Shakespeare’s works.
Shakespeare’s most popular plays
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Julius Caesar
Othello
Hamlet
Explore
What was Shakespeare's theater like?
Learn about the Globe and other London playhouses where Shakespeare’s company performed. What was it like to be an actor there, or an audience member?
Teach
How can Shakespeare help 21st-century students be stronger readers?
Our Folger Method is revolutionizing how not just Shakespeare but all literature is taught using strategies that allow all students to own – and enjoy – complex texts.
Research
If we are what we eat, what can recipes from the past tell us?
Projects like Before ‘Farm to Table’ unite scholars and practitioners in investigations into the past to shed light on what matters to us today.
Support the things you love
Your gifts make access to our collection, learning opportunities, and exciting experiences happen.