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
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 new café.
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
Teaching the First Folio on the First Day of School
Julius X
Out of the Vault
Tomorrow’s Verses: The O.B. Hardison Reading
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
The Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Celebrating Jane Austen at 250
As You Like It
The 2026 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize Reading
The 2026 O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Finale Reading
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
The Renaissance charm of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser
Austin Tichenor rereads Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels—“with an s like the English poet”—and discovers that the hard-boiled Boston detective’s literary roots go even deeper than remembered.
The Invention of Charlotte Bronte
In an excerpt from scholar Graham Watson’s groundbreaking new book, we meet 19th-century Bronte biographer Elizabeth Gaskell as she discovers the real author of Jane Eyre.
North Africa Through the Eyes of England
A look at some of the colonial sources that informed the understanding that 17th century English people had of North Africa.
Reading Jane Austen in the 21st Century
250 years after her birth, Jane Austen’s appeal endures. Scholar Patricia A. Matthew discusses editing three Austen novels and how new research on Caribbean sugar plantations expands our view of the Regency era.
Shakespeare in the News
A round-up of stories about Shakespeare in the news this summer from theater, film, and science.
Famous quotes from Julius Caesar
Shakespeare’s tragedy is filled with memorable lines, including Mark Antony’s speech that begins “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.” Explore some of the play’s most well-known quotes.
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.