Introduction to a Slightly Modified Theme: Postcards in the (home) archive

August 13, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Stephen Grant The thematic series I started Aug. 12, 2019, “Postcards in the Folger Archives,” has come to a pause. It has not escaped my dear collational readers’ attention that in my most recent post I relied more heavily on artifacts from my personal collection. It is time to make a prepositional change. I will shift from analyzing postcards in the Folger archives—not accessible due to the building renovation—to postcards for the Folger archives, lying untapped in my Arlington VA home. … Continue Reading

The “Quartermaster’s Map” of England and Wales

August 4, 2020 | By Erin Blake

Thanks for the excellent guesses on the identity of the August Crocodile Mystery! If you’ll permit me to indulge myself, I’ll prolong the suspense a little longer by showing some examples of what it might have been, but isn’t (and if you won’t permit me, no one’s stopping you from scrolling down now to read the answer). As several people pointed out, the tall and skinny binding is the sort of thing you’d expect for a ledger or some other kind of financial account book.… Continue Reading

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: August, 2020

July 28, 2020 | By The Collation

Some types of publication have fairly standard proportions. For example, you can be pretty sure this oblong volume isn’t a Bible or a play text: Front cover of The pen’s excellencie, or, The secretaries delighte / Written by Martin Billingsley. [London] : Are to be solde by Io: Sudbury & George Humble in Popeshead alley, [1618?]. Call number: Folger STC 3062.3 If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably a Berlemont-style international phrase book or a penmanship manual.… Continue Reading

2020-2021 Folger Research Fellows

July 23, 2020 | By Leah Thomas

The Folger Institute is pleased to announce our 2020-2021 cohort of Folger Institute Research Fellows. From the outset, we knew this year would be different. The Folger Institute marks its fiftieth anniversary this year, and the Folger Shakespeare Library is embarking on its major building project. While our Reading Room is closed, the Folger Institute remains committed to building community and supporting collections-based research, and to providing scholars with the resources they need to pursue and advance their work away from the Folger.… Continue Reading

Emily Jordan Folger and Joseph Quincy Adams

July 21, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Stephen Grant “The Hall was demolished in 1928,” Joan Harrison writes in Glen Cove, Images of America (2008), “for the building of Morgan Park,” named after financier J. P. Morgan. Emily Folger would have known when she sent this postcard in 1932 that the renowned hotel on the North Shore of Long Island was no longer. … Continue Reading

Getting Dressed with the Hermaphrodites

July 14, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Kathleen Long (Editor’s Note: You can read Kathleen’s previous post, Dining with the Hermaphrodites, for a discussion of another aspect the novel.) The inhabitants of the island depicted in the 1605 French novel, The Island of Hermaphrodites, live in a decidedly material world. They do not believe in anything truly spiritual, including the immortal soul, heaven or hell, or divinity in any celestial rather than earthly form.… Continue Reading