Websites Films & Podcast Books
WEBSITES
Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources (SOAR)
SOAR is a searchable independent database maintained (in cooperation with the SOF) by the New England Shakespeare Oxford Library (NESOL), established and managed by Bill Boyle since 2005. It includes thousands of Oxfordian publications since the 1920s — a century’s worth of articles, essays, papers, and book reviews published about the Oxfordian movement and the Shakespeare authorship debate, including almost all newsletter and journal articles in publications of the SOF and its predecessor organizations. The SOAR database is continually updated by a dedicated team of volunteers working with Bill Boyle, including Catherine Hatinguais, James A. Warren, Terry Deer, and Renee Euchner (see more information here).
The De Vere Society (U.K.)
The DVS is the leading British Oxfordian association, founded at Oxford University in 1986. The current chairman is author Alexander Waugh (2015 Oxfordian of the Year), who maintains a popular YouTube channel. The DVS organizes lectures, forums, and social events, publishes books, articles, and video and audio recordings, and promotes authorship research. “Anyone who enjoys the works of Shakespeare and is intrigued by the greatest of all authorship mysteries is welcome to join.” We encourage everyone to join both the SOF and the DVS, and many SOF members have done so.
The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition: The Declaration of Reasonable Doubt
The SAC, founded by John M. Shahan (2012 Oxfordian of the Year), is the largest single association of authorship doubters in the world, with more than 4,700 signatories to its “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare.” The SAC is neutral about the identity of the author and thus does not endorse the Oxfordian theory or any specific candidate. It simply promotes the authorship question as a legitimate subject of study and inquiry. The SOF encourages everyone to read and sign the Declaration.
ShakesVere
This is a private Facebook discussion group that grew out of the fan page for Mark Anderson’s biography of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, “Shakespeare” by Another Name, published in 2005 when Anderson was honored as Oxfordian of the Year. Interested persons may apply to join ShakesVere at the link above.
Nina Green: The Oxford Authorship Site
Green’s website provides an extremely valuable and extensive collection of transcribed historical documents relevant to the authorship question, along with a copiously documented biography of Edward de Vere, transcriptions of his surviving letters and memoranda, and many useful articles.
Mark Andre Alexander’s Authorship Sourcebook Website
This website collects convenient links to a vast number of sources and documents relating to the Shakespeare authorship question and the work of Oxfordian and other authorship-doubting scholars over the decades. Included are a short biography of Sir George Greenwood (1850–1928) and most of his important books and articles on the authorship question published from 1908 to 1925. A professional speaker and writer on various subjects, Alexander is the author of an article on Shakespeare and the law.
Shake-speare’s Bible
Professor Roger Stritmatter, 2013 Oxfordian of the Year, devotes this website to telling the story of a unique and startling literary object — the 1568–70 Geneva Bible owned and annotated by the real Shakespeare: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
OxfraudFraud
This website and collection of videos focuses on “Debunking the Debunkers in the Shakespeare Authorship debate,” taking on the falsehoods and obfuscations of the notorious Oxfraud website.
The Shakespeare Authorship Question (better than Wikipedia)
This website, an article written according to Wikipedia guidelines (but not part of the actual Wikipedia), provides a balanced summary of the authorship question, discussing the pros and cons of the traditional Stratfordian theory, as well as theories favoring Oxford, Marlowe, Bacon, and Derby. For discussions of the egregiously biased, incomplete, and inaccurate actual Wikipedia articles on the SAQ (which fail to follow Wikipedia’s own guidelines), see, e.g., Boyle (2011, pp. 1, 8–12) (PDF here); Wildenthal (2019, pp. 23–30) (PDF here; if prompted to create an account, “download without registration” at right).
Alan Nelson’s Website: Archive of Original de Vere Transcripts
Professor Alan H. Nelson, now retired from the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), maintained this very useful website collecting his transcriptions of surviving letters and memoranda by Edward de Vere (Oxford) and other relevant documents and commentary. Note: UCB no longer hosts Nelson’s website, but much of it is still available via the link above on the Internet Archive “Wayback Machine.” After clicking on the link above, click on “Shakespeare ‘authorship’ pages” and scroll down to see numerous links, e.g., to “OXDOX” and “Letters and memoranda of Edward de Vere 17th earl of Oxford.” Nelson, a vehement Stratfordian, is known for maintaining cordial relationships with some Oxfordians, attending Oxfordian conferences on occasion, and generously sharing his scholarship. His commentaries here, like his notorious biography of Oxford, are often tendentious, but much of his scholarship and archival work remains valuable.
DOCUMENTARIES
Last Will. & Testament (2012)
This film was directed by Lisa Wilson and Laura Wilson Matthias, from executive producer Roland Emmerich (Honorary Trustee of the SOF). Alan Austin, host of the 1989 PBS Frontline program The Shakespeare Mystery (available on YouTube), praised Last Will. & Testament as “the most beautiful, eloquent, and almost mesmerizing film” he had yet seen on the subject: “Who was Shakespeare? Not only is their case overwhelming, it’s easy to follow and impossible to refute.”
Nothing Is Truer Than Truth (2018)
Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, 2019 Oxfordian of the Year, directed this film based on Mark Anderson’s book. It focuses on de Vere’s travels in Europe during 1575–76, especially to Venice and other northern Italian cities, connecting the works of Shakespeare to Oxford’s intimate experience of Italian art, theatre, and culture, and exploring the mystery of Oxford’s (and Shakespeare’s) sexuality. It features many renowned Shakespearean actors, directors, and scholars, including Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Mark Rylance (both Honorary Trustees of the SOF).
PODCAST
Don’t Quill the Messenger
Join host Steven Sabel and a variety of guests as they explore the Shakespeare authorship question on the podcast, “Don’t Quill the Messenger: Revealing the Truth of Shakespeare Authorship.” Episodes cover a wide range of topics, including Shakespeare’s sexuality, Shakespeare and the law, the French and Greek connections to the works of Shakespeare, and many many more. If you love Shakespeare, this is your podcast! For a full list of episodes and guests, see the “Don’t Quill the Messenger” website.
BOOKS
Is Shakespeare Dead? by Mark Twain (1909)
Twain’s classic but often-overlooked book, part of his autobiography, is a humorous examination of the problems inherent in accepting William Shakspere of Stratford-upon-Avon as the author of the “Shakespeare canon.” It is available for free viewing and PDF download at the Internet Archive and in Google Books.
“Shakespeare” Identified in Edward De Vere the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford by J. Thomas Looney (1920)
Looney’s thoughtful, gracefully written, and carefully researched book launched the modern Oxfordian theory and continues to revolutionize Shakespeare studies more than a century later. John Galsworthy, winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature, called it “the best detective story I ever read.” It is available for free viewing and PDF download at the Internet Archive (first edition, published in London) and in Google Books (first American edition). The annotated scholarly version, edited by 2020 Oxfordian of the Year James A. Warren, was published in 2018.
