Famous artifact to be displayed in Vermillion
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Famous artifact to be displayed in Vermillion

A collection of William Shakespeare’s greatest works is making it’s way to South Dakota this spring.

“First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare” will be at the National Music Museum from March 7 to April 2.
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First Folio is a part of the Folger Shakespeare Library and is touring to all 50 states, stopping only once in each one.

Vermillion was chosen for this exhibit after going through a lengthy application process.

“It was a big deal for the National Music Museum and USD to be able to get this exhibit,” said Patricia Bornhofen, manager of communications for the museum. “We had to have standards in terms of security and climate control and cultural context. But it could’ve been in a lot of places in South Dakota, so to get it is really exciting.”

“First Folio” was published in 1623 and is historically significant, Darlene Farabee, chair of the English department said.

“It’s important as a book and an artifact because it contains 18 of Shakespeare’s plays that otherwise wouldn’t have been printed,” she said. “It preserves for us some quite famous plays that we wouldn’t have without it. That’s not to say that they weren’t known or being performed in their own time, they just weren’t put together in one book.”

Admission is free during the book’s 27 day showing, which Bornhofen hopes will attract a new demographic to the museum.

“We are hoping that this is a different exposure for the museum,” Bornhofen said. “A lot of people who come here are coming for the music. But this can bring in a whole different group of people that are interested in literature. We hope that this will bring an expanded crowd and will put our name on the map.”

The Music Museum has an exhibit planned to go along with the book.

“We are going to have it surrounded by two instruments from the era,” Bornhofen said. “We are going to be showing the only English Renaissance cittern in the world. It’s an incredibly rare thing and we are excited to be showing it in part with this.”

The English department will also be putting on multiple events during the exhibition.

“All the activities are pointed toward the general public,” Farabee said. “Although we do have school groups that are coming, the events aren’t just for people who are studying Shakespeare at the time. We also have a workshop for teachers on teaching Shakespeare. But all of the events are pointed to the general public including the student body.”

Those who spent time working on the proposal are excited to see their work pay off.

“We had spent an awful lot of time putting together the proposal to get it to come,” Farabee said. “When we got the news, which was actually announced a year ago, it was incredibly exciting news and I was really pleased. I think it really has to do with the interest and the faculty and the facility to host an object like this.”

The book offers a great opportunity for people to see something they read in high school or saw in theaters, Farabee said.

“I think it’ll be an amazing chance to see something that’s almost 400 years old that still has people incredibly interested in it,” Farabee said. “It’s nice to see one of the artifacts that is behind high school curriculums or parks in the summer, to be able to see that, it’ll be incredible.”

Bornhofen echoed Farabee’s excitement towards the artifact’s coming to Vermillion.

“You would have to go to Washington to see this up close and you would have to get special permission to see it,” Bornhofen said. “So to have this book, which is probably one of the most significant in Western society, touring is truly incredible.”

The exhibit’s opening ceremony will be held March 9 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.