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America's Shakespeare

Shakespeare and the American Revolution
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and the American Revolution

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Shakespeare & Beyond

By the time the first battles of the American Revolution took place in 1775, Shakespeare had been imported from England on stage and page to the New World.

Lincoln & Macbeth: A Surprising Tale Told Through Primary Sources
Teaching Shakespeare

Lincoln & Macbeth: A Surprising Tale Told Through Primary Sources

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Martyr of Liberty Broadside. Folger Shakespeare Library. Last year, as part of the Wonder of Will exhibition extravaganza to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Folger presented America’s Shakespeare. This exhibition took a look at the Bard’s influence…

Shakespeare the salesman: Advertising Coca Cola, iPhones, and chewing tobacco
Marcus Ward calendar
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare the salesman: Advertising Coca Cola, iPhones, and chewing tobacco

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Esther French

Shakespeare is a familiar sight in the theater and on the movie screen, but he’s permeated many other areas of American life. Advertisers have picked up on the ubiquity of Shakespeare for more than two centuries.

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood
Hamlet costumes
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood

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Esther French

The costumes for Alan Bates and Glenn Close in Hamlet (1990). (The Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design: Larry McQueen) Shakespeare has provided rich material for Hollywood’s film industry over the decades, from The Taming of the Shrew (1967) with…

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps
Hamlet Wagon
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps

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Author
Esther French

Theater was explosively popular in California’s Gold Rush era, and miners couldn’t get enough of Shakespeare. San Francisco and Sacramento had major theaters that were repeatedly burning down and being rebuilt almost immediately. Even the small gold-mining towns had stages…

America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers

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Shakespeare & Beyond

America’s Shakespeare: How George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams quoted Shakespeare during and after the American Revolution.

War and America's Shakespeare
American soldier in Vietnam
Shakespeare and Beyond

War and America's Shakespeare

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Author
Esther French

“Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear.” Quoting from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Abigail Adams praised the courage of the militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill in a letter to her husband, John Adams, in 1775. From the…

Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?

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Author
Esther French

America’s ShakespeareHow well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?The Booth BrothersLess than a year before John Wilkes Booth became infamous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, he and two of his brothers (normally onstage rivals) teamed up for a…

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career
Shakespeare and Beyond

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career

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Author
Esther French

That’s a hot ticket! (Photo Credit: Library of Congress) Can you feel the feverish excitement in the air? This photograph from April 14, 1936, shows the crowded streets outside the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on opening night for the Federal Theatre…

How 'The New York Times' commemorated the Shakespeare tercentenary in 1916
Shakespeare and Beyond

How 'The New York Times' commemorated the Shakespeare tercentenary in 1916

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Author
Esther French

2016 marks 400 years after William Shakespeare’s death, and the world is celebrating the quatercentenary with Shakespeare performances, festivals, and fireworks. One hundred years ago, what was said about the Shakespeare tercentenary in the United States? We see one of these windows…

Would you buy a used car from William Shakespeare? How about mustard?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Would you buy a used car from William Shakespeare? How about mustard?

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Author
Sarah Hovde

Would you buy a bicycle if William Shakespeare sold it to you? How about trading up to a Cadillac? Over the years, advertisers have counted on the novelty of Shakespeare, and his memorable characters, to sell their products. The brochure…