Out of the Vault: Into the Heart of the Folger
Ongoing exhibition of key items from the Folger collection and the people who use them
Booking and details
Plan your visitDates Ongoing, with rotating objects on display
Venue The Robin and Roger Millay Gallery in the Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall
Tickets Free; timed-entry pass recommended
The Folger at work
What is the Folger, and what do people come here to do? A rotating selection of rare books and manuscripts offer intriguing windows on the Folger’s remarkable collection, multifaceted work, and passionate community.
Signature objects and Folger voices
See signature objects from the collection — Shakespeare, and beyond — and learn how they connect with various aspects of the Folger’s work, through the voices of scholars, teachers, curators, conservators, and others.
Research, performance, learning, and more
Whether it’s transcribing centuries-old handwritten texts, making new discoveries in the Reading Room, or editing our best-selling editions of Shakespeare’s works, you’ll gain a fuller picture of what happens at the Folger.
On display now
- An ornately decorated, handwritten version of the Book of Common Prayer from 1576
- An illustrated manuscript created by professional spy Hugh Alley in 1598, offering a unique view of Shakespeare’s London
- A manuscript that records all the registered deaths in London in 1563, during England’s deadliest plague epidemic, in which nearly one out of four Londoners are thought to have died
- A 1687 map of Jamaica used in research by a Folger Fellow for developing a new play
- And more
Learn more
Sweet Blood: A Play in Progress
Artistic Fellow Camille Thomas shares how research at the Folger helps inform her play, Sweet Blood.
Of Counts and Causes: The Emergence of the London Bills of Mortality
A guest post by Dr. Kristin Heitman The Folger’s rare holdings let us glimpse aspects of Renaissance and early modern practices otherwise lost to us. For example, while many European cities and towns had well-documented methods for monitoring the health…
A 16th-century market
This 1598 illustration shows Escheape Market, a meat market in London with butchers’ shops along both sides of the street.
How often will collection items rotate in this exhibition?
In order to preserve our collection items and limit their exposure to damaging light, we will rotate objects every 3-5 months. This means that you could visit the exhibition several times over the course of a year and see different objects each time.