With its founding in 1847 ‘for the benefit of the nation’, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust became the home of Shakespeare in England. Some of our collections came to us by acquisition, but many are gifts that have been entrusted to us over the years from donors in Stratford-upon-Avon, from throughout Great Britain, and also from most other countries in the world. The collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are a window into what Shakespeare has meant to diverse people across the centuries and around the globe.
We understand these meanings differently over time. Our current collections project explores our history of acquisition and how interpretations of our objects and documents have evolved and continue to evolve. This is something all museums must focus on. By better understanding our collections histories, we can tell the stories of our past in relation to our present.
The collections project does not reflect on William Shakespeare himself or on his plays and poems. Our upcoming exhibition, Becoming Shakespeare, will examine how Shakespeare’s development as an artist was rooted in his hometown context and how a life in rural Warwickshire came to be celebrated across the globe.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust cares for the Shakespeare family houses in Stratford and for collections relating to his life, his times, and his works. At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to explore and celebrate works which remain some of the most profound and inspiring of all artistic endeavours. We proudly continue to make our properties and collections accessible to everyone.