New Haven Conference Talks on YouTube

The SOF has started releasing on its YouTube channel a selection of talks presented at the 2025 Annual Conference.

The first batch includes the keynote address: “Delia Bacon: Genius or Madwoman?” by SOF President Brent Evans. Also included are talks by Bonner Miller Cutting, Dorothea Dickerman, Professor Rima Greenhill, and Professor Roger Stritmatter. Additional talks will be released soon.

Cutting’s talk addresses the question “Is There a Southampton Problem?” and critically examines the Prince Tudor theory. Dickerman’s talk is about Mary Vere Bertie and asks: “Was This Shakespeare’s Real Sister?” Greenhill’s talk is about “Shakespeare and the Daughter of the Russian Emperor” and examines linkages between Russia and The Winter’s Tale. Stritmatter’s talk analyzes linkages between several women characters in Shakespearean plays and written annotations — apparently in the hand of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford — in books preserved at Audley End in England.

The SOF Board of Trustees is resuming, going forward, the predominant approach taken after most past conferences since our YouTube channel was launched in 2014: to present a carefully and strategically curated selection of talks best-suited to that platform and most likely to promote the global online presence of the SOF.

The SOF is profoundly grateful for the hard work and dedication of all our New Haven conference speakers. For the first time this year, as a courtesy and expression of thanks, the raw video of conference presentations will be provided to all speakers whose talks were not selected for the YouTube channel.

The Board notes that the SOF has long followed an “open forum” philosophy in its conferences and publications (both online and print), welcoming a wide range of diverse perspectives from many speakers and writers. A necessary corollary of that “big tent” approach, consistent with declared SOF policy with regard to online and print publications, is that it is always understood (unless expressly declared otherwise by the SOF Board of Trustees) that all talks, presentations, and views expressed — whether at SOF conferences, symposia, or other events, or posted on the SOF website, YouTube channel, or elsewhere online — reflect only the personal views of the individual speakers or authors and do not reflect any official view, statement, or position of the SOF. Speaker affiliations are stated solely for informational purposes and do not imply any organizational or institutional endorsement.