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.
The Folger is open! New exhibition galleries, gardens, and shop
Explore our exhibitions
See what’s on view in our galleries.
Plan your visit
Get details and reserve timed-entry passes.
Check out our shop
Gifts, games, merch, and more!
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
Romeo and Juliet
Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis
Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma
Folger Book Club: Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma
Gallery Talk: Romeo and Juliet On Stage
Letras Latinas celebrates 20 years
Hamlet and Way Beyond with the Folger Method
Gallery Talk: Little Books, Big Gifts
Folger Friday Fall Get Down with the DC Rawhides
Family Workshop: Cram Thee with More Food
News and announcements
Folger Shakespeare Library Names Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper as Director
Press release: May 20, 2024
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
Bringing Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Operatic Heights
Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello interviews director, Brenna Corner, about Verdi’s opera inspired by Macbeth.
The ballad of the woodworm, or ‘reading’ holes in woodblocks
This month’s Folger Mystery explores the reuse of a woodblock print as it was eaten away by worms.
What the Nurse Might Have Said
Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Harriet Walter reimagines what the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet might have said after Juliet’s death in an excerpt from She Speaks!.
'Dating Dr. Dil' Resource Guide
To prepare for Folger Book Club’s November discussion of Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma, we have pulled together a list of resources related to Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, and Taylor Swift.
Watch | A look at early modern "selfies" by calligrapher, artist, and writer Esther Inglis
Enjoy a video from the Esther Inglis special exhibition, showing how early modrern calligrapher, artist, and writer Inglis’s self-portraits helped tell her story.
Folger Mysteries: October 2024
Spot the difference in this month’s Folger mystery!
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.