The Amherst–Folger Undergraduate Fellowship program provides an opportunity for Amherst students to engage in primary source research in libraries and archives in Washington, DC, while receiving individualized mentorship and instruction from Folger staff and scholars. The program takes a broad view of research and has included fellows with projects outside the early modern world and across disciplines and majors.
Past Folger Undergraduate Fellows
In January, five Amherst students participated in the "Before Farm to Table" research colloquium during which they investigated and analyzed an 18th-century manuscript recipe book from the Folger Shakespeare Library collection. Working closely with Folger staff members Drs. Heather Wolfe and Amanda Herbert, the students joined a collaborative research team at the Folger to transcribe, edit, and adapt recipes from the book.
Read the article by Eniola Ajao '21
Nine Amherst students spent two weeks in January getting to know the life and kitchen of this unknown Englishwoman by examining her 102-page, 400-recipe manuscript, on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library. This handwritten collection of recipes and folk remedies, compiled circa 1740, received the Amherst treatment as the students studied it—and cooked from it—from every angle.
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Ann Guo ’20 looked at early-17th- through mid-18th-century references to tea and foods as a lens into conceptions of racial and ethnic “others.” Ariella Goldberg ’19 investigated Renaissance cryptography. And Isabella Berkley ’19 researched 17th-century travel writing and its influence on England’s relationship with the Caribbean.
Read the full article in Amherst News
This year's students delved into media history, archival research methods and material culture, from early modern books, manuscripts and art to the curation of modern editions and digital texts.
Read the full article in Amherst News
Shakespeare was a guy from the wrong side of the pond, but the American people still fell for him—hard. Even more improbable: the extent to which Amherst has been part of the long romance...
Read the full article in Amherst Magazine
The Folger Shakespeare Library’s publicly available online catalog contains bibliographic and accession records for many important parts of the collection, including materials published since 1800, rare materials acquired since 1996, manuscript collections and works of art.
Explore the catalog