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The Collation

The Collation

Research and Exploration at the Folger

The Collation is a gathering of useful information and observations from Folger staff and researchers. Read more about this blog

Camaraderie, congeniality, and collaboration: paleography at the Folger
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Camaraderie, congeniality, and collaboration: paleography at the Folger

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Author
Morgan McMinn

a guest post by Morgan McMinn Research libraries and archives are often thought of in terms of their physical existence but those misconceptions were challenged by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The Folger Shakespeare Library is…

Picturing Children’s Food in Early Modern Europe
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Picturing Children’s Food in Early Modern Europe

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Carla Cevasco

a guest post by Carla Cevasco While I started my Folger fellowship intending to research children’s foodways in the manuscript recipe book collection, I was surprised by how many hungry, eating, or even eaten children could be found in the…

Three chords and the truth
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Three chords and the truth

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Rachel B. Dankert

There are moments when a song is the best way to convey an emotional message. Even though songs are mostly public things, they still can feel intensely personal. Popular songs in early modern England were sung in ballad form. At…

Extra-Illustrating Othello
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Extra-Illustrating Othello

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Patricia Akhimie

a guest post by Patricia Akhimie On my last visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Fall 2019 (a time that seems all too distant now) to conduct research for a new edition of Othello, I set myself the goal…

Romeo and...
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Romeo and...

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Elizabeth DeBold

Thanks for our many eagle-eyed readers and your attention to this month’s Crocodile Post. As several folks guessed, this is a French parody of Romeo and Juliet called Roméo et Paquette, published in 1773. This item is a new acquisition, purchased in…

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: October 2021
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“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: October 2021

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The Collation

We’re back with another Crocodile Mystery! Please take a look at this partial image, and give us your best guess as to what this item might be? We’ll be back next week with the answer!

Should we care where Lucy Hutchinson went to church?
oil painting portrait of a 17th century white mine with brown hair wearing a white shirt and a dark robe on a dark background
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Should we care where Lucy Hutchinson went to church?

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Crawford Gribben

A guest post by Crawford Gribben Over the last few years—and with the benefit of my summer Folger fellowship—I’ve been thinking about the network of friends and rivals that had at its centre the puritan theologian, John Owen (1616-83). John…

Postcards in the (home) archive: Folger postcards, 1937
Color postcard of the Folger Shakespeare Library side by side with the reverse of the card, containing only a date written in blue ink
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Postcards in the (home) archive: Folger postcards, 1937

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Stephen H. Grant

A guest post by Stephen Grant Fig. 1. Folger Shakespeare Library from Northwest 1937Author’s Collection, photo by Stephen Grant Printed on picture side: FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 60063 Printed on address side: PUB. BY THE WASHINGTON NEWS COMPANY, WASHINGTON,…

The Folger G.K. Hall Catalogs, or How to fit an entire card catalog on your bookshelf
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The Folger G.K. Hall Catalogs, or How to fit an entire card catalog on your bookshelf

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Julie Swierczek

I had the good fortune of learning to do scholarly research during the transition from card catalogs to Online Public Access Catalogs or ‘OPAC’s, as they are known in libraries. I have a particular fondness for card catalogsSee also Abbie…

A briefing on brevigraphs, those strange shapes in early printed texts
th[us] passy[n]g [the] tyme
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A briefing on brevigraphs, those strange shapes in early printed texts

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Erin Blake

Most people reading this will know that “&” and “and” mean the same thing. Some will also know that the ampersand’s “&” shape originated from the handwritten word “et” (Latin for “and”). The  “e” and the “t” are combined into…

Unsung Travelers: a history of global mobility from below
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Unsung Travelers: a history of global mobility from below

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Ananya Chakravarti

A guest post by Ananya Chakravarti In March 2017, not long after President Trump stormed into office on a platform decrying “globalists,” the historian Jeremy Adelman published an essay asking whether “the short ride” of global history had come to…

Paper Trades
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Paper Trades

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Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Thank you for your insightful comments on our Crocodile Mystery, which I enjoyed reading as usual. My heartfelt thanks also to Andrew Hare, Supervisory East Asian Painting Conservator, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National…

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