Research and discovery

Patricia Akhimie, curator of the Folger exhibition To Hear Her Speak, asks: “What do Black women and Shakespeare have to do with each other?” Quite a bit over 400 years it turns out, as she shows in the catalog’s introduction.

Banning books goes back thousands of years, almost as long as people have been writing. Aaron T. Pratt, the Folger’s curator of rare books and prints, looks at one of 15 books that James I went beyond banning to publicly burn during his reign.

Shakespeare’s poems and plays record the pleasures and perils of the table. In Shakespeare in the Kitchen, Marissa Nicosia explores what Shakespeare’s works can tell us about Renaissance recipes, and what these recipes can tell us about Shakespeare’s works.

A roundup of Shakespeare stories, including discoveries about his only London real estate purchase and family papers; all Shakespeare’s plays ranked as well as video games Shakespeare would love; and actors sharing Shakespeare.

What do we know about Shakespeare’s life? As Shakespeare Documented shows, we know quite a bit about him as a playwright, businessman, and family man through primary sources from his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

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.

Reference Associate Erika Giddens, who manages the Folger’s Ask a Librarian service, takes us behind the scenes to share some of the most asked questions about Shakespeare and how she answers them.

We’re sharing some of the Shakespeare stories in the news in December 2025 and January 2026, from Hamnet to Bridgerton, The Beatles and King Lear, imagining Richard III’s voice, and remembering theater legend Tina Packer.

Porras, a Folger Artist Fellow, shares what inspired him, from the Folger collection to Indigenous futurism, in the creation of his new media work, de Bry’s Slipstream.

Shakespeare stories in the news this fall, from the Hamnet film to a new discovery in Shakespeare Quarterly about Shakespeare’s father. Plus a surprising connection between the middle school phrase “6-7” and Richard II.

Shakespeare’s era was abuzz with mathematical progress. Rob Eastaway uncovers the many surprising ways math shaped Shakespeare’s plays―and his world―in an excerpt from his book, Much Ado About Numbers.

Folger Artist Fellow Missy Dunaway shares what she’s learning while working on The Birds of Shakespeare, her project to paint the 65 birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works.