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.
How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Edition
Cocktails and Conversation: "Cultural Cadences" with Nakeisha Daniel and JaMeeka Holloway
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
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
Shakespeare discoveries by Folger Fellows
Enjoy a round-up of Collation blog posts from Folger Institute Fellows about their research on Shakespeare, his works, and legacy.
Conservation Interns at Work
Conservation interns from the Folger and Library of Congress share their experience working across both institutions to learn new techniques for treating materials and for preparing materials for exhibition.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in August
See what’s playing at our Shakespeare Theater Partners around the country this August.
Inside Hamlet’s Head with Jeremy McCarter
A six-episode podcast drops you inside Hamlet from the prince’s POV. Director Jeremy McCarter explains how 21st-century technology unlocked a fresh take on Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Excerpt: Blue Mountain Rose
Julie Hammonds’ heartwarming novel takes readers backstage at a Shakespeare festival staging Hamlet to save its fortunes. In this excerpt, we meet the cast on the first day of rehearsal.
“I have lately been promoted to the ‘big douche’”
Through her correspondence, Delia Salter Bacon reveals what it was like to undergo a 19th century “water-cure”
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.