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!
Folger Frost Fair
Celebrate the season with a month-long winter festival at the Folger. Enjoy festive decorations, holiday music, free activities, and more.
Quill & Crumb
Our new café is now open! The seasonal menu features shareable snack plates, salads, sandwiches, and a variety of coffees, teas, and baked goods.
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
A Mass for Christmas Eve
Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis
Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute Reading with Kimiko Hahn
An Hour O’erflow with Joy: Stories of Students and Teachers
Folger Salon with Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva and Ania Upstill
Folger Friday Holiday Singalong
Family Workshop: To Be a Shakespearean Actor
Imprints in Time
Folger Salon with Shaul Bassi, Rob Clines, and Sylvia Korman
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
Holiday Festivities and Elizabethan Theater
Erika T. Lin studies early modern holidays and her work has yielded some surprising revelations—not only about the festivities themselves, but about the relationship between holidays and what we now think of as “theater.”
Convivial Cleopatra
An examination of Cleopatra’s racialized and sexualized queenship through the twinned theoretical frameworks of indigenous and queer conviviality
'The Familiar' Resource Guide
To prepare for Folger Book Club’s December discussion of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, we have pulled together a list of resources related to resources related to Golden Age Spain, the inquisition, and Love’s Labor’s Lost.
The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, with Helen Castor
What happens when a king loses his people’s trust? Historian Helen Castor delves into the 14th century drama behind Richard II’s fall and Henry IV’s rise, the events that inspired Shakespeare’s celebrated history plays.
2024 Folger Holiday Gift Guide
We’ve got the perfect gift for everyone on your list in this guide to some of our favorites from the Folger Shop.
Teaching Shakespeare to GenZ
Educator Jocelyn A. Chadwick looks at the opportunities for teaching Shakespeare in today’s classroom, encouraged by GenZ’s passion for connecting literature from the past with their own here and now, bringing in the music, movies, and even ads that shape their world, to create their own unique meaning.
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.