Henry Clay Folger

Henry Clay Folger (June 18, 1857 – June 11, 1930) was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Henry Clay Folger was born in New York City to Henry C. Folger of Nantucket, MA and Eliza Jane (Clark) Folger of New York. He was a first cousin six times removed of Benjamin Franklin and a nephew of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folger Coffee. He prepared at Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn, New York. He then attended Amherst College where he was member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1879. After Amherst, he attended Columbia Law School from 1879 to 1881, and was admitted to the bar in 1881. Beginning in 1881, he worked for...