Shakespeare Unbound

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio of William Shakespeare’s plays (1623). At the W. E. B. Du Bois Library and Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, the Shakespeare Unbound exhibit asks: what happens when Shakespeare appears in fragments or as momentary flashes in history? With selections from the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, the works of W. E. B. Du Bois, Phillis Wheatley, and others are joined in conversation with William Shakespeare. This exhibit explores stories of Shakespeare unbound and rebound, scattered and gathered together into new assemblages across place and time.  

At the Kinney Center, exhibits explore a wide range of topics including: the story of the print revolution in Renaissance Europe and the emergence of the book in its modern form (Nobel Fragments, Fall 2023); Shakespeare and Mass Incarceration (Spring 2024): and Water-Worlds: Ripple Effects or Sea Change? (Spring - Summer, 2024), which explores water-worlds depicted in drama, poetry, novels, natural philosophy, early earth science, music, origin myths, fables and more. 

Shakespeare Unbound is made possible through a private collection of rare books generously on loan to the University in honor of the collector’s life-long friendship with former UMass Amherst Professor Pieter Elgers. This extraordinary collection contains extracts from the First Folio, copies of three other early folio editions of the plays (1632, 1663, 1685), Shakespeare’s Poems (1640), and a diverse array of materials that trace the history of Shakespeare’s plays—on page, stage, and film—from the Restoration through to the Twentieth Century.

Curators:
Prof. Joe Black | Department of English
Kirstin Kay | Mark H. McCormack Archivist for Sport Innovation
Prof. Marjorie Rubright | Director, Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies