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
What’s on
Join us for in-person and virtual events: theater, poetry, music, and more.
![SfS Banner Mixology Presents: Shakespeare for Swifties](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/07/SfS-Banner.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Mixology (TV) Presents: Shakespeare for Swifties
![Havana Hop listing](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/06/Havana-Hop-listing.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Dance Theatre Workshop
![August 2024 PD](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/07/August-2024-PD.png?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Building Community in the Classroom with the Folger Method
![Listing Laith Allatar](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/06/Listing-Laith-Allatar.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Arab Music and Poetry Night
![Shake Up Your Saturday Folger 800x500](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/07/Shake-Up-Your-Saturday-Folger-800x500-1.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Family Workshop: Lines So Richly Spun
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Whose Democracy? Season Kickoff
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Into the Vault: Books of the 1620s
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
![BookClub_YearofWonders_Preview_800 x 500](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/06/BookClub_YearofWonders_Preview_800-x-500.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Folger Book Club: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
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DC & Me: Community Stories from Anacostia
News and announcements
![42A3513_less adidas_photo by Henri T-min](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/05/42A3513_less-adidas_photo-by-Henri-T-min-scaled.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Folger Shakespeare Library Names Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper as Director
Press release: May 20, 2024
About us
How did the world’s largest Shakespeare collection end up one block from the US Capitol? Explore the Folger’s origin story.
![Night view of the Folger Shakespeare Library with the U.S. Capitol building in the background](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/12/folger-capitol-night-view-background.jpg?resize=20%2C10&gravity)
The latest from our blogs and podcast
![038620-listing Romeo and Juliet detail from a quilt in the Folger collection, showing the balcony scene, with Romeo standing at left and Juliet above him on a balcony, with flowers scattered below balcony, with additional narrow section to the left showing a flowering plant](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2025/10/038620-listing.jpeg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
Summer Reading: Romeo and Juliet, Revisited
Looking for summer reading? Try a novel based on Romeo and Juliet, from a San Diege restaurant feud to a zombie horror tale to a story about first love.
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Quiz: Games, sports, and Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s plays are full of sports and games. Test your knowledge with these questions.
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Macbeth and the Roots of Birnam Wood
Todd Andrew Borlik revisits his August 2024 presentation on Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood.
![Cunning Folk cover listing Detail of book cover, reading](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2025/10/Cunning-Folk-cover-listing.jpeg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
A real-life lawsuit over failed magic
Tabitha Stanmore tells the story of a 15th-century widow hiring a magic practitioner in this excerpt from her book “Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic.”
![ART Box R167 no.11](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2024/07/036303_FB.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
33 Shakespeare Quotes About the Weather
If you’re running out of ways to say, “It’s too hot,” try Shakespeare. Here are over thirty ways to complain about the weather.
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Colman Domingo on the Power of Theater
Actor Colman Domingo takes us behind the scenes of the making of his new film, Sing Sing.
Our collection
![Title page with engraved portrait of Shakespeare in the middle. Text printed above it reads](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/08/003281.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024)
The First Folio
The Folger has the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Learn more about the book that gave us Shakespeare.
![Sieve portrait A three-quarters length portrait of a woman with dark red hair and pale face and hands. She is wearing an ornate red and gold gown with a high ruff and she is holding a golden sieve in her right hand.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/08/003219.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024)
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.
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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
Explore
![The Globe The Globe](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/09/045738-cropped.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
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
![Randle Highlands Folger 137 Student reading a Folger Shakespeare in class.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/10/Randle-Highlands-Folger-137-scaled.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
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
![Jose Andres with Amanda Herbert Photo of people talking and gesturing](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.folger.edu/uploads/2022/09/2019_02_12_folger_elmanstudio-1135-scaled_1800x600_acf_cropped.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
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.
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Support the things you love
Your gifts make access to our collection, learning opportunities, and exciting experiences happen.