The Folger Institute is a center for advanced research in the early modern humanities at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The following programs will be offered at the Folger in Spring 2026 including “Early Modern Numeracy” directed by Mason professor, Jessica Otis:
The Early Modern Iberian World: New Approaches, New Directions (weekend workshop)
Directed by Christina H. Lee (Princeton University) and Lisa Voigt (Yale University) on Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31, 2026
This workshop invites applications from graduate students and early-career scholars who are working on projects (an article, dissertation, or book manuscript) that seek to open up new directions in or engage with new approaches to the study of the early modern Iberian world.
Early Modern Afro-British Political Thought (weekend conference)
Sponsored by the Center for Early Modern Political Thought and organized by its Steering Committee: Nigel Smith, Chair (Princeton University); Sharon Achinstein (Johns Hopkins University); David Armitage (Harvard University); Jennifer L. Morgan (New York University); and Julia Rudolph (North Carolina State University) on Thursday evening through Saturday, February 12-14, 2026
Intellectual historians, literary scholars, philosophers, historians of slavery, and book historians studying Afro-British political thought are invited to apply for this spring conference to be held at the Folger.
Early Modern Numeracy (weekend workshop)
Directed by Jessica Otis (George Mason University) and Jacqueline D. Wernimont (Dartmouth College) on Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14, 2026
All those interested in the rich texts and contexts of early modern numbers are welcome to apply.
Beyond Christianity: Religious Identities in the Premodern Anglosphere (symposium)
Directed by Bernadette Andrea (University of California, Santa Barbara) and M. Lindsay Kaplan (Georgetown University) on Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday, March 25-27, 2026
Scholars focusing on the ways that non-Christian religious identities shaped the early modern English imaginary are encouraged to apply.
Applications for Folger Institute programs must be submitted through the online application portal by October 20, 2025, for admission and grants-in-aid for Folger Institute Consortium affiliates.
If you have any questions about completing the application, please contact Mason’s Folger Institute representative, Dr. Jessica Otis, Associate Professor of History and Associate Director of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.
Faculty, staff and graduate students interested in being kept up to date with Folger announcements can subscribe to Mason's Folger listserv, FOLGER-L@listserv.gmu.edu. To subscribe:
1. Compose an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.gmu.edu
2. Leave the Subject line blank/empty.
3. Type the following line in the body of the message: subscribe FOLGER-L (your full name)
September 30, 2025