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Folger Exhibitions

Collecting Will and Jane
Shakespeare and Beyond

Collecting Will and Jane

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Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

One of the stories told by the current exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity is that literary renown is as much about commodities as about books. Literary celebrity transforms authors into objects. Our exhibition traces…

Jane Austen's Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Jane Austen's Shakespeare

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

Jane Austen, who was born in 1775, came of age in the 1790s and started publishing in the 1810s; her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, came out in 1811. She died in 1817, which makes 2017 the 200th anniversary of…

Reading ahead for "Will & Jane"
Shakespeare and Beyond

Reading ahead for "Will & Jane"

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Shakespeare & Beyond

As you’ve seen on this blog already, the next Folger exhibition, Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity (August 6 to November 6), will be a fascinating look at the posthumous celebrities of William Shakespeare and Jane…

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.

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'
Shakespeare and Beyond

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

As curators of the upcoming exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity opening at the Folger on August 6, we could not help viewing the new Austen film Love & Friendship through a Shakespearean lens—and with…

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…

Building a Replica of the John Wilkes Booth Diary
Collation

Building a Replica of the John Wilkes Booth Diary

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Author
Austin Plann Curley

Guest Post by Folger conservator Austin Plann Curley “You can’t always get what you want.” So said the Rolling Stones in 1969. Such was the case for the Folger Shakespeare Library in our recent request to borrow the Diary of…

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…

Life of an icon: Shakespeare as playwright and poet
Shakespeare and Beyond

Life of an icon: Shakespeare as playwright and poet

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Author
Esther French

Fifty of the most important manuscripts and printed works related to Shakespeare’s life and career are on display in the Folger exhibition Shakespeare, Life of an Icon, curated by Heather Wolfe. Some of these documents mark important milestones for Shakespeare…

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