Folger Library Director Michael Witmore, speaking to WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi about the history of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Monday, January 6, 2014

NNAMDI: (your) neighbors include the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. How did the Folger come to be established in that particular spot?

WITMORE:  Well, it’s an interesting story. It’s said that they stopped over on a trip at Union Station and took a walk. And Mr. Folger and Mrs. Folger looked at that little stretch next to the Jefferson Building and said, that’s a wonderful place for our library. So at one point, they read in the paper that the Library of Congress was going to expand into that lot. Mr. Folger wrote a letter to the librarian of Congress and said, I need you to stop that legislation. I have a significant collection of Shakespeareana and I would like to make it a gift to the nation.

NNAMDI:  And did he already own the land next to the Library of Congress at that point?

WITMORE:  He had bought up that row of houses where the library now is. So he had his plans in place. But he would have — he could have been trumped by the Congress.

NNAMDI: And how did the Library of Congress respond to his request?

WITMORE:  Well, we have the correspondence in our vault. And the librarian said immediately yes, I would love to help you do this. And he wrote to the chairman of the committee that was making the — that was writing the bill to allocate the land to the Library of Congress. So I think he had support. And how could you not? He had 82 first folios that no other institution will ever come close to having that number of these precious books. The single greatest source for the plays. And he had all these other wonderful material around it. […continued]

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