Folger Institute Consortium

A collaborative endeavor of the Folger Shakespeare Library and more than 40 universities in the U.S. and abroad, the Folger Institute’s consortium pursues its work through "resource sharing," with each member institution contributing to projects that no one of them can accomplish alone. Since 1970, the Folger Institute's consortium, with a history of building institutional cooperation and promoting an extensive program of scholarly activities, has taken a leading role in advancing research and teaching in the humanities. In 1978 this model relationship was honored with an endowment from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that continues to fund Institute activities.

The shared resources are intellectual, financial, and managerial. The Folger provides administrative staff, meeting space, access to its collections, and a range of curatorial and reference services. Each consortium university, meanwhile, appoints a faculty representative to the Consortium Executive Committee. This committee is charged with program planning and oversight. The annual membership fees of the universities fund such core Institute activities as its roster of advanced seminars. For those programs that are funded exclusively through the consortium, affiliates of member universities are accorded priority in admission and may request funding for travel and lodging.