Folger Shakespeare Library
About
Shakespeare
Tools
Learn
Events

Shakespeare & Beyond

Home
About the Blog
Magazine
Podcast

View Folger Shakespeare Library’s profile on Facebook
View FolgerLibrary’s profile on Twitter
View FolgerLibrary’s profile on Instagram
View FolgerLibrary’s profile on Pinterest
View UCBOl-Rnudd-b0XJsmKDId-g’s profile on YouTube

‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ at Door Shakespeare

MIstress Ford and Falstaff dance in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' at Door Shakespeare

Newsletter

Want the best of the blog? Sign up for Shakespeare Plus, a newsletter from the Folger Shakespeare Library delivered to your inbox every other Wednesday. Sign up!

Subscribe to this Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Your Support Matters

Shakespeare’s plays, his world, his lasting influence: Your support keeps the conversation going.

Like this blog?
Give to the Folger today.

Features

Features

folgerlibrary

Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection. Advancing knowledge and the arts. Explore our collection with #FolgerFinds.

Instagram post 17880703018907775

How would you like to dine on peacock for Thanksgiving? Before turkeys were imported to Europe from the Americas, peacock was the bird of choice for big banquets. Turkeys were brought to Europe at the end of the 15th century, reportedly first by Columbus. By the beginning of the 17th century they were in every cookbook, largely thanks to their similarity (and superiority) to peacock. Tap the link in our bio to read "Before 'Farm To Table'" fellow Dr. Elisa Tersigni's new post all about how the turkey conquered Europe: plus, a recipe for a "fire-breathing peacock" centerpiece and more. 🎨🖌️: “Still Life with a Peacock Pie”, Pieter Claesz (oil on panel, 1627), image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington @ngadc. #Thanksgiving #LinkInBio #BeforeFarmToTable
.
.
.
#ThanksgivingDinner #Turkey #FoodHistory #Food #Foodie #peacock #centerpiece #painting #StillLife #FoodHist #HistFood

Instagram post 17873227865047167

Today at 5 pm ET, actor, cook, and author John Tufts (@johnnymtufts) joins us on the Shakespeare Lightning Round! His cookbook, "Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare's Table," includes more than 150 recipes straight out of Shakespeare's plays... like this roast joint of mutton inspired by "Henry IV, Part 2." Tap the link in our bio to get this recipe, and tune in at 5 pm ET today as John answers our 30 lightning-fast questions about Shakespeare and theater. #ShakespeareLightningRound #LinkInBio

Instagram post 17886538297770900

Poets Stephanie Burt and Taylor Johnson join us for a virtual reading tomorrow, November 18 at 7:30 pm ET. Tap the link in our bio for tickets from $5 - 15! The two celebrated poets will share works about transgender and regional identities. Plus, tune in before the reading for a virtual pop-up exhibition exploring gender identity, curated by Assistant Curator of Collections Elizabeth DeBold. And stick around after the reading for a Q & A with Burt and Johnson moderated by writer Oliver Baez Bendorf.

Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic, and professor with eight published books, including two critical books on poetry and three poetry collections. Her essay collection, "Close Calls with Nonsense," was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and her most recent poetry collection is "Advice from the Lights: Poems" published by Graywolf.

In 2017, Taylor Johnson received the Larry Neal Writers' Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Their first book, "Inheritance," will be published November 2020 by Alice James Books. Folger Poetry Coordinator Teri Cross Davis highlighted "Inheritance" in our summer reading blog post this summer, writing, "Johnson’s language is sure-footed, precise, questioning, and strongly evocative of place (including their hometown of Washington DC)." #LinkInBio #Poetry

Instagram post 17849969144387628

You can almost hear the tree saying, "Weeeeeeeeee!" In October, we moved the magnolia on the west side of the Folger in preparation for our renovation project, which will add new exhibition galleries, collaborative research and education spaces, social gathering spots, and more. Tap the link in our bio to read all about how we moved this huge, nearly 90-year-old tree. #FolgerRenovation
.
.
.
#Magnolia #WonderOfWill #MagnoliaTree #SouthernMagnolia #CapitolHill #CapitolHillDC #DCArchitecture #MyDCCool #WashingtonDC #FolgerShakespeareLibrary

Instagram post 18076346248241503

Instagram post 18142858297129684

We’re remembering the great Alex Trebek by re-watching some old episodes of @Jeopardy. It was always a huge thrill to hear him read our name off the board, as in an October 2018 episode, when the Folger was a first round category. See if you can supply the answer to this $1000, triple-stumper clue: “A reading room has a stained glass window that depicts the Seven Ages of Man from this comedy.”

Instagram post 17902187986601310

Who's your favorite of Shakespeare's clowns, jesters, and fools? From our collection: an 1899 copy of "Stories from Shakespeare," written and illustrated by M. Surtees Townesend. #FolgerFinds #PublishersBindingThursday
.
.
.
Folger Sh.misc. 203 #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #FinDeSiecle #PublishersBinding #Book #Books #Booklover #Bookworm #LookAtThisBook #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer #LibrariesOfInstagram #IGLibrary

Instagram post 17845450100453628

For Veterans Day, listen again to our interview with actor and US Army veteran Stephan Wolfert. In his one-actor show "Cry Havoc!" Wolfert draws together lines in Shakespeare’s plays spoken by soldiers and former soldiers like Macbeth, Othello, and Richard III. He puts those words to the task of explaining the toll that soldiering and war take on the psyches of the people who volunteer for military duty. We talk to him about his play, and about his DE-CRUIT program, which uses Shakespeare's words and rhythms to help veterans overcome trauma. Tap the link in our bio to listen and to learn more about DE-CRUIT. #ShakespeareUnlimited #VeteransDay

Instagram post 17863936100145085

🌩️🌩️🌩️ This Friday may be Friday the 13th, but it's still our lucky day! The Shakespeare Lightning Round is back and we're talking to Farah Karim-Cooper, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at @lifeatkings and Head of Higher Education & Research at @the_globe! Tune in live, right here on Instagram, at noon EST. #ShakespeareLightningRound ⚡⚡⚡

Instagram post 18131394160141345

From our collection: a photo of Millicent Bandmann-Palmer as Hamlet, late 19th or early 20th century. Her performance as Hamlet is mentioned, briefly, in Joyce's "Ulysses": "Mr Bloom stood at the corner, his eyes wandering over the multicoloured hoardings. . . Hello. 'Leah' tonight. Mrs Bandmann Palmer. Like to see her again in that. Hamlet she played last night. Male impersonator. Perhaps he was a woman." #FolgerFinds

Instagram post 18071057083244738

How do you move a tree with a trunk more than 100 inches around, that's been growing in the same place for nearly 90 years? Tap the link in our bio to take a behind-the-scenes look at the over-a-year long process of moving our beloved magnolia. 📸: Lloyd Wolf #FolgerRenovation

Instagram post 17958270373362967

Braccae sunt vanitas (Pants are vanity).

Happy Halloween! From our collection, this ca. 1585 print by Battista Parmensis has a flap over the lower half of the man's body that lifts up to reveal skeletal legs, a reminder that all of our trousers will one day pass into the shadow. Tap the link in our bio to take a closer look at this print with Miranda, our Digital Asset Platform. #FolgerFinds
.
.
.
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #Skeleton #SpookyScarySkeletons #MementoMori #Vanitas #pants #trousers #SpecColl #SpecialCollections #LibrariesOfInstagram #IGLibrary

Instagram post 17865690107093063

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 28 at 5 pm EDT, the Shakespeare Lightning Round is back with Ken Ludwig (@playwrightkenludwig), the Tony, Olivier, and Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright of "Moon Over Buffalo," "Lend Me a Tenor," "Shakespeare in Hollywood," and more and the author of "How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare!" What's your favorite of Ken's plays? Flip through photos from a few favorites, and tune into our chat with the man himself tomorrow right here on Instagram. (Photos: "Moon Over Buffalo" with Carol Burnett, "Murder on the Orient Express," "Dear Jack, Dear Louise" at @ArenaStage, "Comedy of Tenors," "The Gods of Comedy," "Shakespeare in Hollywood.") #ShakespeareLightningRound #KenLudwig
.
.
.
#Play #theatre #theater #theatrelife #MoonOverBuffalo #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #Actorlife

Instagram post 17872816310004441

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio—a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" (Hamlet, 5.1.190). For Halloween, here's one of our favorite items from the collection: a spooky skull containing a tiny copy of "Hamlet." This artist's book and its little plasticene skull were created in 2009 by Czech bookbinders and artists Jan and Jarmila Sobota; it was on display at the Folger last October as part of a mini-exhibition of mini-books from our James Harner Collection of Miniature Books Related to Shakespeare. Want more spooks and scares from the Folger's collection? Tap the link in our bio to find our guide to Halloween 2020: what to watch, read, wear, and more. #FolgerFinds
.
.
.
#Skull #Halloween #HappyHalloween #October #Spooky #Spoopy #Hamlet #Shakespeare #Books #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer #LookAtThisBook #ArtistsBook #BookBinding #FolgerShakespeareLibrary #OnDisplay

Instagram post 17856982088291908

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."
.
The Battle of Agincourt was fought #OnThisDay (St. Crispin's Day) in 1415. From our collection, here's Shakespeare's "Henry V" as it appears in one of the Folger's 82 copies of the First Folio. Tap the link in our bio to read more of "Henry V" online for free with The Folger Shakespeare. #FolgerFinds #BandOfBrothers (From Folger STC 22273 Fo.1 no.68)

Instagram post 17891023024696720

Last week, Shakespeare's First Folio was in the news when a copy sold at auction for nearly $10 million. The Folger's collection includes 82 First Folios. After our renovation is complete, all of them will be on display for all to see in a new visible vault. Tap the link in our bio to take a look at our plans and learn more about how you can support this transformative project. #FolgerRenovation #TheWonderOfWill
.
.
.
#FirstFolio #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #FolgerFinds #FolgerShakespeareLibrary #LinkInBio

Instagram post 17844898532451987

Next week on the Shakespeare Lightning Round, we talk to Tony, Olivier, and Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig! We'll talk about reading Shakespeare with your kids, writing mysteries, and Ken's favorite theater spaces in the US. Tune in Wednesday, October 28 at 5 pm EDT right here on Instagram.
.
Best known for scripts like "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Crazy for You," Ken has written 28 plays and musicals and had 6 shows on Broadway and 7 in London's West End. His newest play, "Dear Jack, Dear Louise," which tells the story of his parents' courtship during World War II, won the 2020 Helen Hayes / MacArthur Award for Best New Play or Musical after it's world premiere production at DC's @ArenaStage. #ShakespeareLightningRound

Instagram post 17916199024487714

How would you feel if you knew that after an election, a “poll book” would publish the names of the candidates you had voted for? In early modern England, that's just what would have happened. Voting wasn't a secret process in the 1600s and 1700s. This poll book, from the Folger's collection, published the names of all the voters in London and which candidates and party they voted for in 1710. Each voter was able to cast one vote (indicated at right by a dash) for each of the four seats up for grabs in their constituency. Tap the link in our bio to take a virtual tour of this book and to learn more about how people cast their votes in 18th-century England. #LinkInBio #FolgerFinds
.
.
.
#Vote #Poll #SpecialCollections #SpecColl #LibrariesOfInstagram #IGLibrary

Instagram post 17905753159530084

Nothing better than watching a tree move on a gorgeous autumn day. As our renovation continues, we're moving the beautiful magnolia tree on our building's west side about a hundred feet to the south. Yesterday, we moved the magnolia about 15 feet. Depending on the weather, the move will continue tomorrow, likely kicking off around 11 am to noon. If you're taking a walk on Capitol Hill, swing by 2nd St. SE or East Capitol St. to watch the rest of the tree's progress. #FolgerRenovation
.
.
.
#CapitolHill #CapitolHillDC #Arborist #Tree #TreeHugger #Magnolia #MagnoliaTree #FolgerShakespeareLibrary #TreesOfDC #USCapitol #Autumn

Instagram post 17873936767923142

The 2020/21 season of our O.B. Hardison Poetry Series begins next week with a virtual reading by Toi Derricotte on October 22. Tap the link in our bio to get tickets and to check out all of the great poets joining us virtually this season, from locations including Emily Dickinson's bedroom and Abraham Lincoln's cottage.
.
.
.
#FolgerPoetry #OBHardison #OBHardisonPoetrySeries #Poetry #Poem #Poems #ToiDerricotte #IGPoetry #PoetryOnInstagram #PoemsOfInstagram #PoemOfTheDay

Related Links

The Folger Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited
The Folger Spotlight
The Collation
Teaching Shakespeare

Like the Folger on Facebook

Like the Folger on Facebook

Recent Tweets