It is London’s only dedicated Shakespeare library and archive fully open and accessible to the public.
Shakespeare’s Globe has announced the launch of their new Research & Collections centre, designed by Allies and Morrison, as London’s only dedicated Shakespeare library and archive fully open and accessible to the public.
As a priority for Shakespeare’s Globe since the founder Sam Wanamaker commissioned an
academic team to conduct one of the largest scale arts and humanities research projects of the 1980s and 90s: the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s 1599 Globe Theatre, research is key to the theatre’s work.
The spaces of the Research & Collections Centre include the Audre D. Carlin Reading Room which includes access to over six thousand books about Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, and the history of dramatic performance across the world. The Performance Archive will also be publicly accessible by appointment and includes all the documents of production generated in making work at Shakespeare’s Globe, as well as the digital archive of
performance – recordings of productions, public talks, workshops, and events.
Meanwhile, Shakespeare’s Globe’s library of original Renaissance texts, housed in the John Wolfson Rare Book Room, remains the closest resemblance to Shakespeare’s bookshelf and houses nearly five hundred 16th and 17th century plays, poems, novellas, treatises, and works of history, philosophy and religion, beautifully preserved.
Those wishing to visit can book either morning or afternoon slots to attend the Audre D. Carlin Reading Room via the Shakespeare’s Globe now.
In addition, the development also features the state-of-the-art Wolfson Lecture Theatre, a climate-controlled secure archive store, and the new Weston Foyer lined with display cases that highlight some of the most fascinating objects in the institutional and artistic archives which hundreds of school pupils and university students have already accessed as
part of Shakespeare’s Globe commitment to making scholarship and expert knowledge accessible to all.
Dr Will Tosh, Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe, says: “Our new Research & Collections Centre is a stunning, welcoming home at the heart of the Globe for curious visitors of all ages. I’m incredibly proud that we’re able to open a new library at a time when the arts and humanities are facing unprecedented pressure, and I’m so grateful
to the very generous donors who have made this possible. At the Globe we’ve always believed that Shakespeare’s works are best enlivened when we combine scholarship with performance and public engagement, and our new facility will support that endeavour for years to come.”
To find out more visit: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/learn/research-and-collections/archive-collections/