Shakespeare and the American Story
On view in our exhibition galleries through August 2
Welcome to the Folger!
Choose how you want to experience Shakespeare, the humanities, and our world-renowned collection.
Visit Shakespeare’s home in America
Plan your visit
Get details and reserve timed-entry passes.
Take a tour
Reserve a group tour or student experience.
Eat at Quill & Crumb
Enjoy lunch or a quick snack at our café.
About us
The Folger Shakespeare Library showcases the utility of Shakespeare and the humanities in cultivating healthy civic life.
What’s on
Join us for theater, poetry, talks, and other programs.
How Shakespeare Saved My Life
The 2026 O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Finale Reading
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
Pairing Texts: Shakespeare and the Sweep of Literature
Folger Salon with Nakeisha Daniel and JaMeeka Holloway, and Lorenzo Gatta
Family Workshop: An Ode to the Gardens
The latest from our blogs and podcast
Hamlet's wisdom
In Shakespeare’s Scholars, Sean Keilen explores one of the more comic parts from Hamlet, Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes, and why audiences, from Shakespeare’s time until quite recently, took the words of guidance quite seriously.
Some More Birthdays
In honor of America250 and our exhibition Shakespeare and the American Story, we celebrate milestone birthdays of collection items, from a book that is as the same age as America to coins that are thousands of years old.
Gifts for spring celebrations
A round-up of gift ideas for graduation, weddings, or just because from our online Folger Shop. Books, jewelry and apparel, stationery, home, and more, perfect for lovers of Shakespeare and literature.
Through the Photographer’s Lens
Chris Naulty, our Imaging Associate, shares some of the weird and wonderful things she has encountered in our early modern recipe books while working on the project to digitize them.
The American Women Who Transformed Shakespeare Editing
Charlotte Porter and Helen Clarke were outliers in the world of Shakespeare editing and scholarship—female, queer, non-academic, and the first editors to base their edition and analysis on the text of Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623.
The Shakespeare Ladies Club
A century after Shakespeare’s death, his words were in danger of being forgotten. Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth reveal how the Shakespeare Ladies Club rescued Shakespeare’s plays and made him the cultural icon he is today.
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.
Folger Shop
Find unique gifts inspired by Shakespeare and our collection.