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The Collation

Research and Exploration at the Folger

The Collation is a gathering of useful information and observations from Folger staff and researchers. Read more about this blog

Conservation Interns at Work
A man stands on a ladder, reaching into a tall exhibition case holding a range of objects.
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Conservation Interns at Work

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Author
Brittany Murray Charlotte Starnes Devon Blankenbaker

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.

“I have lately been promoted to the ‘big douche’”
A naked man stands under a straight fall of water, holding on to two parallel bars at about waist height
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“I have lately been promoted to the ‘big douche’”

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Author
Kate Doubler

Through her correspondence, Delia Salter Bacon reveals what it was like to undergo a 19th century “water-cure”

Performing Race in the London Lord Mayors’ Show, 1660-1708
A page showing an elaborate illustration with a decorative border framing a group of dancing figures surrounding a tree
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Performing Race in the London Lord Mayors’ Show, 1660-1708

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Author
Jamie Gemmell

Fellow Jamie Gemmell explores how race was performed in the annual London Lord Mayor’s Show

Defining Beauty in Text and Image in the late Seventeenth-Century
A black and white engraving of the same portrait. Beneath the portrait is the text Barbara Duchess of Cleveland.
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Defining Beauty in Text and Image in the late Seventeenth-Century

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Author
Jean Marie Christensen

Fellow Jean Marie Christensen explores beauty standards of the 17th century.

Medicinal Plants, Colonial Weeds, and Biodiversity Loss
A painted page showing an illustration of a plant and a description of it sits underneath sketches and beside a tablet showing an image of the original page of the book the painting is references
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Medicinal Plants, Colonial Weeds, and Biodiversity Loss

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Author
Suzette Marie Martin

Herbarius: A New Herbal for the Anthropocene, by 2024-25 artist research fellow Suzette Marie Martin, is a “deconstructed manuscript” series of paintings that traces the intercontinental dispersal of non-native plant species through formerly valued medicinal herbs, now despised as weeds.

Adages and Annotations
Manicule pointing up. The index finger ends as the head of a rooster.
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Adages and Annotations

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Author
Erika Giddens

In which a 16th century monk flips Erika off, and we all pick out our next tattoos

Semantics: Ars Minor or Ars Major?
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Semantics: Ars Minor or Ars Major?

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Author
Layla Zeitouni

Fellow Layla Zeitouni explains how the Term “Major” Allowed the Gutenberg Bible to Supersede the Donatus

Thomas Nashe’s Almond for a Parrat (1590), corrected by the author
Crossed out printed text with a written word on top of the text
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Thomas Nashe’s Almond for a Parrat (1590), corrected by the author

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Author
Joseph Black

Identifying handwritten corrections by the author Thomas Nashe in his own work, Almond for a Parrat

Color of Character: Racial Cues in the Visual Othello
A porcelain sculpture showing, from left to right, a standing black man in purple and gold clothes gesticulating, a seated white woman with a white dress leaning against a seated white man with gray hair and red clothes. Both of them are watching the standing man with attention.
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Color of Character: Racial Cues in the Visual Othello

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Author
McKenzie Knight

A participant in the undergraduate seminar, Whose Sovereignty?, explores depictions of Othello in the Folger collection

Twelfth Night in the Folger Collection
An opening of a book showing the text of a play on one side and two figures, one in masculine clothing and one in feminine clothes, both illustrated entirely in blue paint
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Twelfth Night in the Folger Collection

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Author
Johnna Champion

Our assistant curator highlights a new acquisition and other material in our collection related to Twelfth Night

Sitting with the Book of Martyrs
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Sitting with the Book of Martyrs

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Author
Erin Reed

A participant in the undergraduate seminar, Whose Sovereignty?, experiences the materiality of the 1583 edition of John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments

Deep Dive into Gorakh Dhanda or what Partington thought of Indian Shakespeare in 1913
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Deep Dive into Gorakh Dhanda or what Partington thought of Indian Shakespeare in 1913

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Author
Anandi Rao

Fellow Anandi Rao takes a close look at a copy of an Urdu translation of The Comedy of Errors.

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