Researching Edward de Vere (Earl of Oxford) and the Shakespeare authorship question for more than 100 years . . .
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 Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter (1965 to the present)
The Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, published since 1965, is the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship’s quarterly newsletter, with all the latest developments in the Shakespeare authorship question, news, articles, book and film reviews, poems, and letters to the editor.
The Oxfordian (1998 to the present)
The Oxfordian is the SOF’s flagship peer-reviewed journal, published annually in the autumn since 1998. The Oxfordian is a professional scholarly publication that features papers providing in-depth coverage of issues of importance to Shakespeare scholars.
Books on the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Books published by the SOF and others on the authorship debate and Edward de Vere as the real Shakespeare.
Brief Chronicles (2009–16)
Brief Chronicles (similar to The Oxfordian) was an annual, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary scholarly journal, launched by the Shakespeare Fellowship, which merged with the Shakespeare Oxford Society in 2013 to form the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. Brief Chronicles was edited by Professor Roger Stritmatter and Professor Michael Delahoyde, dedicated to examining the authorship question and various related topics in early modern studies. While discontinued as an annual journal after 2016, it continues to this day as an occasional series of scholarly books (more information here).
Shakespeare Matters (2001–13)
The newsletter Shakespeare Matters was published by the former Shakespeare Fellowship, which merged with the Shakespeare Oxford Society in 2013 to form the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. It contains many outstanding articles on the authorship question, similar to the coverage of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter (whose current editor was the former editor of Shakespeare Matters).
Ever Reader (1995–2000)
The Ever Reader, an online magazine housed on the website of the former Shakespeare Oxford Society, featured a sampling of Oxfordian news, articles, and essays drawn from the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, past materials published on the authorship question, and new material first published on the website.
The Elizabethan Review (1993–99)
Published and edited independently by Gary Goldstein (current editor of The Oxfordian), the Elizabethan Review (similar to The Oxfordian and Brief Chronicles) was a scholarly journal containing research papers, essays, short notes, and book reviews on topics covering the full spectrum of the English Renaissance, including the authorship question and the case for Edward de Vere (Oxford) as the true Shakespeare. Its contents include articles by Warren Hope, Diana Price, John Rollett, Roger Parisious, Richard Desper, Peter Dickson, Noemi Magri, Peter Moore, and Ron Hess, among many others.
Shakespeare Fellowship (U.S.) Newsletters (1939–48)
The American Shakespeare Fellowship was a sister and successor organization of the original Shakespeare Fellowship founded in England (see below). When the British fellowship had to suspend most of its operations in 1939 due to the advent of World War II, American Oxfordians founded the American Shakespeare Fellowship, which published its own newsletter. It had a more specifically Oxfordian focus than its British progenitor. Its newsletter contains many fascinating and important articles by such Oxfordian pioneers as Eva Turner Clark, Charles Wisner Barrell, and Louis Bénézet.
Shakespeare Fellowship (U.K.) Newsletters (1937–58)
The Shakespeare Fellowship was founded in England in 1922. Among its leaders were J. Thomas Looney, Sir George Greenwood, and the great French literary scholar, Professor Abel Lefranc. The fellowship published a newsletter containing many fascinating and important articles and providing insights into the history and growth of the Oxfordian movement in the U.K. and continental Europe. Although this fellowship was the foundation of all later Oxfordian organizations, it did not focus exclusively on the Oxfordian theory launched by Looney in 1920. Greenwood, to his death in 1928, remained an uncommitted authorship skeptic and Lefranc adhered to the Derbyite theory.
Articles on the SOF Website
This page on the SOF website collects a wide range of articles on Shakespeare and the authorship question (they appear automatically in reverse chronological order by website posting date), published or republished in convenient HTML format. Some were originally published in journals or newsletters listed here (often available in original PDF format as well), while some are original “direct to website” articles. (The SOF generally no longer publishes the latter sort of articles, so if you have an article submission to offer, please direct it to the editors of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter or The Oxfordian.)
Reviews on the SOF Website
This page on the SOF website collects book, film, and TV reviews, and related articles (they appear automatically in reverse chronological order by website posting date), republished in convenient HTML format, dealing with Shakespeare and the authorship question.
The De Vere Society (U.K.)
The website of the DVS, the present-day independent sister organization of the SOF in the United Kingdom, contains an archive of many of the most important articles published over the years in the DVS Newsletter.
