Folger Institute
The Folger Institute is a dedicated center for advanced study and collections-focused research in the humanities at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The Institute fosters targeted investigations of the world-class Folger collection. Through its multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural formal programs and residential research fellowships, the Institute gathers knowledge communities and establishes fresh research and teaching agendas for early modern humanities. Its advanced undergraduate program introduces students to rare materials and the research questions that can be explored with those materials. Plans are also underway to organize larger scale, collaborative research initiatives. This new aggregation was launched at the Folger in 2013.
The work of the Institute in all its many parts has been generously supported by endowments from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, program and fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the sustaining memberships of the universities of the Institute's consortium, and support from a variety of other sources. The Folger Institute helps set the intellectual agenda for early modern humanities. Through their interpretations of primary source materials, its associated scholars bring to light important issues from early modernity that still resonate today.
The Center for Shakespeare Studies
The Center for Shakespeare Studies was founded in 1986 with an NEH grant. The Center's first premise is that no single critical approach, historical perspective, scholarly method, or pedagogical strategy can do justice to Shakespeare's texts and contexts. The Center presents and encourages a wide variety of approaches to its subject. Generous support from the NEH has funded many Center programs and ensured that the Center's reach extends to college teachers across the country. Numerous NEH summer institutes, two groundbreaking year-long performance institutes, and conferences have been among the highlights of the Center's offerings. The many products of the Center's scholarly work include publications and podcasts. Pedagogical applications have motivated the Primary Sourcebooks.