Shakespeare Institute

The Shakespeare Institute


Mason Croft
MottoLatin: Per Ardua Ad Alta
Motto in English
"Through efforts to high things"[1]
Established1951
Parent institution
The University of Birmingham
DirectorMichael Dobson
Postgraduates150
Address
Mason Croft, Church Street
, ,

CV37 6HP

52°11′23″N 1°42′34″W / 52.18975°N 1.70935°W / 52.18975; -1.70935
Websitewww.shakespeare.bham.ac.uk

The Shakespeare Institute is a centre for postgraduate study dedicated to the study of William Shakespeare and the literature of the English Renaissance. It is part of the University of Birmingham, and is located in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Institute was set up in 1951 at Mason Croft, the former home of novelist Marie Corelli. Budgetary problems forced it to be relocated to the main campus at Birmingham during the 1970s, but under the guidance of Professor Stanley Wells, the Institute was returned to Mason Croft in the 1980s and its position was consolidated in 1996 with the opening of the purpose-built Shakespeare Institute Library.

It has been described by the current director, Michael Dobson, as "the best place on earth in which to explore the impact Shakespeare’s work has had across four centuries of world culture".[2]

  1. ^ Ives, Eric (2000). The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880–1980 – An Introductory History. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press. ISBN 1902459075.
  2. ^ "About us - Shakespeare Institute". University of Birmingham.