KU Libraries exhibit opening, First Folio anniversary celebrated at full capacity
Conversation buzzed around the display cases and Spencer Research Library’s North Gallery was packed on opening night of KU Libraries’ exhibit, “To the Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.” Nearly 100 people attended the event that celebrated the folio’s importance in literary and cultural history and launched a new KU Libraries exhibit series that highlights scholarly collaboration between librarians, archivists, and KU faculty.
“Just seeing the engagement and the interaction around the exhibits and hearing the chatter and the conversation -- that’s libraries bringing people together in the spirit of community, and it really warms my heart,” said Carol Smith, Dean of KU Libraries, to a live audience in the gallery, online and via simulcast in overflow rooms.
The exhibit includes a fragment of the First Folio of 1623 as well as a First Folio facsimile, the library’s Second Folio of 1632, and multiple materials from the Spencer’s collections that illustrate the history and importance surrounding the publication of Shakespeare’s work. Co-curated by KU professor emeritus of English, David Bergeron, and Spencer Library Director and associate dean of KU Libraries, Beth Whittaker, the exhibit is free and open to the public throughout the fall semester.
“We believe Shakespeare should be accessible to everyone and so should our exhibits,” Whittaker said in her remarks at the event.
Bergeron and Geraldo Sousa, KU professor of English — both preeminent Shakespeare scholars who have authored numerous works and taught many classes on The Bard — made a major gift to KU Libraries to establish the new Bergeron-Sousa Exhibit Series for Spencer Library. “To the Great Variety of Readers,” is the inaugural exhibit in the series. The title is both a reference to the prefatory materials of the First Folio and expressive of the gift’s intention to create exhibits showcasing Spencer Library materials that appeal to a wide audience.
“In the name of William Shakespeare, and all that is creative, beautiful, and challenging, I welcome this great variety of readers to this event and to this exhibit…wherever you come from, you are welcome,” Bergeron said in his keynote address at the event.
Bergeron described the publication of the First Folio as a momentous time in literary and cultural history, as it preserved Shakespeare’s work for future generations -- without the folio the known works of the author would likely be cut in half. The printing of the folio itself was a remarkable feat that took two years to complete even with multiple printing presses and five workers setting the type, a demanding and tedious process of placing small pieces of metal side by side to create each page.
Some of the same spirit of preservation and accessibility that helped inspire the creation of the First Folio by Shakespeare’s fellow actors and friends is shared by Bergeron, Sousa, and KU Libraries.
“Human knowledge does not just happen, it doesn’t just exist,” Smith said. “It’s built over time, and it’s crafted and constructed by the hands of so many over multiple lifetimes.”
The “To the Great Variety of Readers” exhibit is free and open to the public in the Spencer Research Library’s Exhibit Space through December 22. View an online version of the exhibit, a video recap of the opening, or a look behind the scenes of the exhibit.