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.
Plan your visit
Get details and reserve timed-entry passes.
Explore our exhibitions
See what’s on view in our galleries.
Take a tour
Reserve a group tour or student experience.
Check out our shop
Gifts, games, merch, and more!
Eat at Quill & Crumb
Enjoy lunch or a quick snack at our café.
What’s on
Join us for talks, poetry, music, and other programs.
As You Like It
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
On View: Mandy Cano Villalobos
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
Folger Book Club: 'Queen Hereafter' by Isabelle Schuler
Blackwork Embroidery with Heidi Henderson
SOLD OUT: Afternoon Tea at the Folger
Adjoa Andoh
Director’s Residency: April 19-25
Adjoa Andoh MBE is most well-known among American audiences for her role as Lady Danbury in the Netflix show Bridgerton, but she is also a highly regarded Shakespearean actor and director. Learn more about the public events happening during her Director’s Residency at the Folger, and sign up to receive an email notification when tickets become available.
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
Undergraduate Research at the Folger: Imagining Shakespeare's School Days
In this mock exhibition catalog entry for a writing class, Addison, an undergraduate student at GWU, examines Edwin Austin Abbey’s illustration of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Actors Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Victorian Shakespeare
Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were beloved for their Shakespeare performances, whether at London’s Lyceum Theater or on tour. New additions to the Folger collection show the acclaimed artists at work and play in Victorian England.
The DC Mixtape of "As You Like It"
Composer KOKAYI and sound designer and lyricist Miki Vale discuss creating the DC-inspired soundscape for As You Like It. Shakespeare’s song-filled comedy is onstage at Folger Theatre beginning March 10.
The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe
In his groundbreaking documentary, We Were Here, Folger Fellow Fred Kuwornu shares the diverse African presence in Renaissance Europe—princes, ambassadors, saints, artists, scholars, and knights—all revealed through art from the period.
As You Like It as an early Shakespeare talkie
In 1936, Britain’s first feature-length Shakespeare “talkie” premiered: As You Like It featuring Elisabeth Bergner and Laurence Olivier in his first Shakespeare role on screen. Explore the film’s press kits and study guides.
"A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye": An Unnamed Fairy in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
This solution to February’s Folger Mystery looks at how editors of A Midsummer Night’s Dream have dealt with the ambiguous presence of one its fairies.
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.