RESEARCH & COLLECTIONS.
We are committed to making our scholarship and unique resources public
Shakespeare’s Globe’s unique resources and thriving community of scholars combine to create a dedicated repository specialising in Shakespeare in performance. Use the page below to access the Globe’s collection of rare books, archive material and special collections, and find out more about our key areas of research and academic courses.
Support Research & Collections
We are building a new Research & Collections Centre including London’s first dedicated Shakespeare Library, free and open-to-all. The centre will offer unparalleled activities and experiences redefining how students, researchers, artists, and the public engage with Shakespeare and performance-based research.
We need your support to help us complete this build, and open up Research & Collections at Shakespeare’s Globe. With your help, we can empower future scholars, deepening understanding of performance, and preserving voices from every corner of Shakespeare’s world.
Discover MoreOur Collections
RESEARCH RESOURCES
Find papers and bulletins written by academics and practitioners that focus on aspects of Shakespeare in performance, as well as interviews with Globe actors in the archive catalogue.
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Meet the Research Team
Research at the Globe
Shakespeare Centre London
Formalising 20 years of collaboration between two world-renowned institutions, The Globe and King’s College London have established a new research centre with a focus on critical knowledge, creative practice and social justice.
The Shakespeare Centre London will bring together academics from the Globe and King’s, with the aim of being a beacon for the inclusive study of Shakespeare, text, performance, and premodern critical race studies. With its focus on critical knowledge, creative practice and social justice, the Centre will strive to be an inclusive space for the study and dissemination of new research.
The research centre will build on and formalise two decades of successful collaborations between two renowned institutions. Previous collaborations between King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe have included the joint MA in Shakespeare Studies and the co-sponsorship of biennial postgraduate conferences, and most recently the Early Modern Scholars of Colour network.
Shakespeare and Race
If you are researching Shakespeare and Race, the Library & Archive has a wealth of resources which you may find of interest. Our Performance Archive contains many productions with a diversity of performers, such as Richard II in 2018, which had a cast comprising only women of colour. In addition, we have global productions, such as the 1996 Umabatha, The Zulu Macbeth, and the 2012 Indian Tempest, part of the Globe-to-Globe Festival which also included Q Brothers’ Hip Hop Othello. We also have recordings of Globe Education’s 2018 Shakespeare and Race Festival, including panel discussions, Q & As and workshops. Finally, we have a selection of books in the Library which focus on premodern critical race studies.
The Archive materials mentioned above are just a sample of our Collection. Our Archive Catalogue can be searched here: If you would like help to find what you want, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to assist you.
Courses
Book your place by Tuesday 31 March 2026 to enrol in our brand-new, ten-week course. Explore Shakespeare’s portrayal of human experiences across different ages, tracing how his works continue to shape our modern ideas of growing up and growing old.
No prior knowledge of Shakespeare or his plays is required.
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Shakespeare Studies MA
This unique collaboration between Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s College London offers a truly unparalleled experience for students of Shakespeare.
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Higher Education
Courses, workshops, seminars, lectures and demonstrations for universities & drama schools.
Discover MoreLibrary & Archive
You can discover what’s in our collections by searching our online catalogues for the Archive and Library. Unfortunately we cannot take bookings or enquiries over the phone.
In order to help us prepare for your visit, please contact us by e-mail at least a week in advance of any planned visit. Please provide the following information:
- The date and time of your proposed visit
- Your general area of research
- Details of the material you would like to consult, please refer to our Library and Archive catalogues
- Any access requirements – although the Reading Room is accessible via a lift, please be aware that there is a small ramp to be navigated in order to reach us
The Library & Archive is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Appointments are from 10.00am-1.00pm and 2.00pm-5.00pm.
General enquiries & appointments
PLEASE NOTE: The Library & Archive will be closed to researchers from 11 August 2025. Our collections will become available again later in the year. Contact us for further information.
On your first visit you will be required to:
- Complete an application form
- Provide proof of identification with two forms of ID (a driving licence, student card, passport, bank card are all acceptable). If you are a student please bring your student card with you
Please note that all readers will be expected to abide by our rules and regulations. You are welcome to bring laptops/tablets with you; there are power sockets and wi-fi is available.
Our collections are still in the process of being catalogued. As we progress, the range and number of records described in our online catalogue will grow. Archives relating to the current seasons are typically available within a few months of the end of the season. If you can’t find what you are looking for or would like further information about our collections please contact us.
We have digitised a large proportion of our performance archive, and this is available through the AM online resource Shakespeare’s Globe Archive: Theatre, Players and Performance. This a subscription-based resource which is accessible via many national and international university libraries, and to readers at the British Library, and is also available on-site in the Library & Archive at Shakespeare’s Globe.
We also hold the Read Not Dead archive. Read Not Dead is a long-term project to perform, with professional casts, every play that survives from 1567-1642.
Donations
We actively collect material related to the history of Shakespeare’s Globe and its productions. Please contact the Library & Archive Manager to discuss any donations.
Research Guides
With the help of a Research and Innovation Grant from The National Archives, the Research and Collections team have developed four new thematic guides to the collections.
These finding aids draw on the productions and performances at Shakespeare’s Globe (including the Read Not Dead series), but they also look at the themes through language and characterisation in the plays themselves.
A timeline of Early Modern plays mentioned in the four guides, and cross-referenced to them, has also been developed. A prose version has also been made available that is more functional for screen-readers.
The Subject Guides are temporarily unavailable whilst we make some adjustments. We will make these available again as soon as possible.