America's Shakespeare: The Bard Goes West

Following Shakespeare's original movement in the 19th century from the East Coast of the United States to the West, the Folger Library's exhibition America's Shakespeare moves west to the Los Angeles Public Library where it will open on November 17th, 2016 as America’s Shakespeare: the Bard Goes West.

What makes the words, ideas, and characters of William Shakespeare—an Englishman—so central to American life and thought? Through a fascinating selection of rare letters, costumes, books, and more, America's Shakespeare reveals how Americans have made Shakespeare our own.

A broad range of items from the Folger, complemented by others from California collections, traces Shakespeare's ever-changing role in American culture, from westward expansion and the Civil War to stage, screen, and radio, debates over war, politics, and race, and the latest forms of digital media today.

See the earliest known reference to a Shakespeare edition in 17th-century America; Walt Whitman's copy of Shakespeare; and costumes from Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet film. See a Lincoln letter and find out what his favorite play was. Listen to recordings of the great American actors Edwin Booth and Paul Robeson. Find out about African-American participation in Shakespeare productions.

All these and much more bring Shakespeare alive for you through American history from coast to coast.

Hosted at Los Angeles Public Library

Getty Gallery, Central Library

630 W. Fifth Street

Los Angeles, CA