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.
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
On View: Missy Dunaway
Storytime at the Folger
Printing Press Demonstrations
Afternoon Tea at the Folger
Resplendent Joy: Virtual Concert
On View: Dominick Porras
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
Top five Collation blog posts of 2025
Take a look at our top five Collation posts from 2025. Thanks for a great year!
Celebrating Twelfth Night
Shakespeare didn’t write any plays about Christmas—but he did write one for the festive season. More on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the holiday of Twelfth Night.
The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary
Why does Samuel Pepys’s diary still matter today, 200 years after its publication? Historian Kate Loveman shares how Pepys’s candid entries illuminate life in Restoration England and how his diary has been edited over the centuries.
Top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts of 2025
Enjoy our top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts from 2025. Happy reading!
Top five podcast episodes of 2025
Enjoy the top five Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes from 2025, ranked by number of listens. Happy listening!
Shakespeare on stage in 100 years: Karen Ann Daniels on the next century of Folger artistic programming
Karen Ann Daniels, Director of Programming and Performance and Artistic Director of Folger Theatre, reflects on the successes of the last season of Folger’s artistic programming and looks ahead to what’s coming up next season and in the next century of the Folger’s history.
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.