 |
|
The Folger seeks primary source materials relating to Shakespeare productions, interpretations, editions, and criticism to the present, including born-digital material.
Editions
- Pre-1709
- Folios and quartos should be seriously considered
(see Early English for prioritization)
- Major from 1709 to the present
- We collect all current scholarly editions in at least one format
- We collect duplicates of earlier editions if they have some added interest such as special provenance, added artwork, etc.
- Facsimile editions, including subscription and access to selected electronic editions
- Subscribe and provide access to selected electronic editions
- School editions
- New Oxford and Cambridge School editions: usually purchase one copy of each play; do not purchase copies of every update unless substantial changes made
- Other current school editions: we purchase at least a Hamlet volume as an example
- Historic school editions: we would purchase these only if they have some added added interest such as provenance
- Subscribe and provide access to selected electronic editions
Translations: Eighteenth century to present
- Current
- Major translations into German, French, Italian, Spanish; other languages as they become available (we have translations in over 45 languages including Klingon and Esperanto)
- Historic
- We collect earlier editions in translation if they have added interest such as provenance, illustrations, etc. or if they are by major translators
- See also our Continental collecting policy
Adaptations
(includes "spinoffs" such as novels, plays, etc.)
- Current
- Purchase these as they become known
- Historic:
- Purchase eighteenth- and nineteenth-century adaptations, spinoffs
Critical works
- In-depth, eighteenth through the present, including authorship theories
- All known current Shakespeare periodicals in hard copy or via online access
- Cliffs Notes and other study notes for at least Hamlet
Popular and Ephemeral Materials
- Continue to add representative items to our collection of calendars, books of quotations, children's books, comic books, a few toys, etc. dating from the 19th century to the present
- Born-digital ephemera
(e.g. websites)
Production information
- Add selectively to our collection (seventeenth century to the present) of British and American promptbooks, playbills, photographs, posters, programs, etc.
- Add selectively to our collection of papers of Shakespearean actors, directors, and theaters
- Add selectively to our collection of Shakespeare Festival ephemera
- Maintain and continue to add to our archives of promptbooks and ephemeral material related to productions in the Folger Theatre
Moving images and Recordings
- Add comprehensively to our collection of Shakespeare moving image, including adaptations, in English
- Add selectively to our collection of Shakespeare moving images, including adaptations, in languages other than English
- Collect sound recordings (spoken-word), primarily in English
- Born-digital material (e.g. YouTube), primarily in English
- Selective recordings of theatrical performances, including the Folger (pending resolution of union restrictions on deposit copies of recordings)
Music
- Add selectively to our collection of musical scores (currently mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century) and recordings based on Shakespeare
- out of scope: recorded music of Shakespeare’s era
(exception: Folger Consort material, which forms part of the Folger Archives rather than the research collection as such)
Art
- Add selectively to our Shakespeare-related art holdings:
- Prints, photographs, original works on paper
- Sculpture and decorative art
- Paintings
- private press and artists' books
Objects
- Add selectively to Shakespeare-themed objects
- Out of scope: objects from Shakespeare's era
Manuscripts
- Continue to add to the areas of strength in our Shakespeare-related manuscript holdings, particularly:
- Collections of notes, scrapbooks, letters from early Shakespeare editors and societies
- Dramatic and theater-related manuscripts, including historic records of Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and other British theatres
- Garrick scrapbooks and papers
- Halliwell-Phillipps scrapbooks
- Papers of Augustin Daly
- Papers of William Winter
- Selectively collect modern theatrical, literary, and authorship manuscripts, including unpublished screenplays and scripts and archival collections of living and deceased Shakespearean actors and directors
- We do not collect scholars' papers
|
|
|
