The Folger’s collection is vast and varied, including printed books; manuscripts; prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and other works of art; and a wealth of performance history, from playbills to films, recordings, and stage costumes.
In addition to the rare material collection, the Folger holds a collection of over 100,000 monographs, periodicals, and electronic resources published between the 1830s and the present, related to the understanding and interpretation of Shakespeare, his works and impact, and to the early modern world.
Printed Books
Manuscripts
Works of Art
Performance History
History of the collection
Henry Clay Folger and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger, began amassing the collection of rare books that would become the Folger Shakespeare Library in 1889. They spent decades gathering the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, as well as associated works from Shakespeare’s time. The Library itself opened in 1932, and continues to expand its holdings today.
Caring for our collections
Related blog posts
Explore some of the scholarly work being done with, in, and around our collections.
Artificial Intelligence, 1588
Brandi K. Adams explores how concerns about “artificiall intelligence” manifest in the 16th and 17th centuries, reflecting the concerns of our own time.
Marginalia Maxxing, Early Modern Style
Curator Heather Wolfe shares heavily annotated books in the Folger collection from early modern readers who knew the power of underlining words, adding notes in the margins, and even an occasional doodle in anything they were reading.
230+ Years of Holding It Together
An introduction to the so‑called ‘temporary’ boards bindings that are still on our copy of the first American edition of Shakespeare.
A Pedagogical Pilot: A Folger Consortium First in Undergraduate Education
Directors of the pilot Folger Institute undergraduate program, “Shakespeare’s Places, Publics, and Platforms”, reflect on the program.
