The Economist – The Folger library reopens, with a renewed purpose [unpaywalled]. What is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection doing in Washington, DC? Across the street from the Library of Congress, diagonally opposite to the Supreme Court, sits the Folger Shakespeare Library. At first glance, the large neoclassical block of white marble looks like another government building. Approach the entrance, however, and you will be greeted by a statue of Puck, the mischief-making sprite from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. At his feet, a quotation reads: “Lord, what fooles these mortals be!” The library was established by Henry and Emily Folger, Gilded Age philanthropists who spent their oil fortune obsessively collecting First Folios and rare Shakespeare materials. After years of hoarding the collection in bank vaults, they decided to create a monument to Shakespeare in America’s capital. “The poet is one of our best sources, one of the wells from which we Americans draw our national thought, our faith and our hope,” Emily said. The Founding Fathers similarly adored Shakespeare, seeing in his tyrants the need for institutional checks on power. The Folger Shakespeare Library opened in 1932 and ever since has catered to a rarefied community of scholars and theatre patrons. In 2020 it closed for a renovation to the tune of $80.5m, aimed at making the library more welcoming. “We’re trying to take down barriers,” says Greg Prickman, the director of collections and exhibitions. “Our mission is to make the collection accessible.”