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WHAT IS THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY? WHAT IS ITS HISTORY AND ITS MISSION? WHO IS ITS FOUNDER, HENRY CLAY FOLGER? WHAT WERE HIS MOTIVATIONS BEHIND HIS DEDICATION TO SHAKESPEARE STUDIES? //Answer prepared by Kimberly H//.

The Folger Shakespeare Library: Our Nation’s Treasure The Folger Shakespeare Library boasts itself as home to the largest and finest collection of Shakespeare’s works. In reality, it is so much more than that. The Folger Shakespeare Library can also be called a theater, an art museum, or even a shrine to the Bard himself. The Folger Shakespeare Library can be enjoyed by young and old, rich and poor, educated and non-educated. Admission is free. One can immerse their mind, body and soul in Shakespeare’s writings; or they can visit a traveling exhibit detailing a certain aspect of life in the Renaissance period; or pay their respects to a work of art that is as old as Shakespeare himself. A favorite attraction is the reading rooms, which are by appointment only. The reading rooms house very rare and extremely delicate versions of Shakespeare’s works and therefore need to be treated with the utmost care. However, the Folger Shakespeare Library makes sure everyone can enjoy Shakespeare because the founder of the Library, Henry Folger, always believed that “the poet is one of our best sources, one of the wells from which we Americans draw our national thought, our faith and our hope” (Emily Jordan Folger). The Library is located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C for this reason.

The Folger Shakespeare Library is over 75 years old and has a rich history. The section of the official Folger Shakespeare Library website entitled “History” describes the beginnings of the Library in glorious detail. Henry Folger’s interest in Shakespeare began when he was a senior at Amherst College and attended a Shakespeare seminar given by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Henry started collecting by simply bidding on valuable Shakespeare items, but his interest grew and soon he was a competitive and avid collector. He found most of his materials at auctions and rare-books sales, but most of his starting pieces he actually received as gifts! Circa 1910, he and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger, began looking for a place to house their collection, which after fifty years of collecting included an excess number of manuscripts, books, playbills, paintings and even a rare copy of Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio. They decided on a block of land near the Library of Congress and, after buying out all of the properties located there, started to build the Folger Shakespeare Library. Unfortunately, Henry Folger would never see the fruits of his labors. He died unexpectedly in 1930. Emily Folger dedicated the Library in 1932 and continued to improve her Library until her death in 1936. The dedication’s attendees included then-President Hoover and the First Lady, as well as ambassadors of Great Britain, France, and Germany.

The Folgers always considered the library a very valuable gift to the American people that would be enjoyed for many generations to come. The Folger Shakespeare Library’s mission is to preserve Shakespeare’s works and enhance their collection. Another purpose is to educate the American people and advance their knowledge of Shakespeare’s works as well as the culture of early modern Europe. In Shakespeare’s time, anyone could enjoy his plays and sonnets. Groundlings and Queens alike attended his performances at the Globe theatre. William Shakespeare wanted his works to be enjoyed by all. The Folger Shakespeare Library exists to make this wish come true. Works Cited  The Folger Shakespeare Library Organization, "History." //Folger// //Shakespeare Library//. 19 Apr 2009 < [] >.