Microfilm at the Folger

The Folger's Microfilm collection is roughly divided into two categories:

• Films with call numbers that begin with "Film Fo."
• Films with call numbers that begin with "Film Acc."

Film Fo.

These are microfilms of materials held in the Folger's collections, and which were produced in-house. They include many manuscripts and other materials that are on restricted access due to physical condition or uniqueness. The Reading Room staff may ask readers to first consult the microfilm of an item before requesting permission from a curator to bring up the item itself.

Film Acc.

These are microfilms of materials relating to the areas of study that the Folger supports, produced by outside companies. They may be materials which the Folger owns (such as the microfilms of our prompt book collection), or they may be related materials (such as the State Papers of Ireland, 1509-1782).

Finding Microfilm

There are three ways to find microfilm in the Folger's collection:

• Search the Hand List of Microfilm and Selected Microfiche Sets (links to a searchable pdf document)
• Search the Microfilms Database
• Search Hamnet (In the Advanced Search, search for the word "film" in Call Number from the dropdown menu, and then use the other fields for the rest of your keywords. That will limit the results to only ones where there is a microfilm format.)

The microfilm reels and readers are located on Deck B of the Reading Room. When you make your request, please have the call number and reel number, as well as the title of the microfilm that you are looking for. Staff will be happy to assist you in searching out and setting up the microfilm.