July 2014 | Nate Pedersen

Host a First Folio

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2016 may seem a long way off, but that year marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death and commemorative events are already in the making.  Leading the charge is a traveling exhibition entitled Shakespeare and His First Folio, which will bring the 1623 first published collection of Shakespeare's plays to all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Applications to host the exhibition just recently opened.  (Applications accepted from public, academic, or special libraries, small museums, colleges or universities, historical societies, or similar cultural institutions).

Multiple copies of the First Folio will tour the nation accompanied by six interpretive panels.  The exhibition will provide thousands of people across the country a unique opportunity to view in person the first collection of Shakespeare plays, published seven years after his death. Of the 750 copies printed in 1623, it is believed that 228 have survived into the present era, almost all of which are now housed in institutions.

The traveling exhibition is a joint project between ALA, the Folger, and the Cincinnati Museum Center. The exhibition will be funded in part by a large grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Shakespeare and His First Folio will launch in January 2016 and continue throughout the year.