America 250

Scholar Ruben Espinosa explores all we gain when we build a bigger bookshelf—one that includes Shakespeare and the many different voices that have followed. He sees this work as crucial to shaping our world today and in the future.

In the theater and classroom, scholar Jean E. Howard explores how to develop “democratic practices that embrace the thoughts and talents of multitudes and recover the joy of participating with others in generous, life-affirming humanistic inquiry.”

Shakespeare lived through climate change, too. Scholar Harry R. McCarthy says characters in the plays—from Titania to Viola to the courtiers in The Tempest—show the power in catastrophic times of turning “our thoughts to the collective over the individual.”

What is a copy of Decimus Junius Juvenalis, and Aulus Persius Flaccus Translated (1673) doing in the Folger’s “Shakespeare and the American Story” exhibition?

What were readers of Shakespeare thinking about as the United States was forming? Scholar Brandi K. Adams looks at a critical edition of Antony and Cleopatra published in 1776 and how our understanding of the plays builds off past readings.

Americans have conscripted Shakespeare in causes all the way back to Jamestown’s founding. Looking ahead, in a fractured world might Shakespeare’s talent for giving “us pause” or “time to pause. And attend” unite us in a new consensus?

The word happiness had multiple meanings at the time that Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, and those different definitions also appear in Shakespeare, a writer whom Jefferson admired.

Scholar James Shapiro looks at how Shakespeare has always “served as a canary in a coal mine, alerting us to threats to our fragile democracy.” He offers as a recent example the 2017 production of Julius Caesar in Central Park.

An introduction to the so‑called ‘temporary’  boards bindings that are still on our copy of the first American edition of Shakespeare.

For the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary, we asked Shakespeare scholars what part Shakespeare may play in America’s next three centuries. Folger Director Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper writes that Shakespeare and what we do with him is more essential than ever if democracy is to thrive.

Shakespeare is part of American history and the Folger collection offers unique insights into his impact on American culture. Meet some of the political and cultural figures from America’s first 250 years and learn about their ties to Shakespeare.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, try out our quiz on Shakespeare in America.