Compiled by Kathryn Sharpe
In this issue:
- Committee advances Looney’s cause at SOF’s 2018 Oakland Conference
- SI-100 Committee membership nearly doubles
- SAM Day engages Facebook audience with four live talks
- Jim Warren’s research and publications highlight Looney’s accomplishments
- The Oxfordian publishes five of Looney’s letters from the Bookman’s Journal
- De Vere Society contributes to Looney’s headstone and Lit & Phil Society
- Goals for 2019 (and some for 2020)
Committee advances Looney’s cause at SOF’s 2018 Oakland Conference
New family photos, origin of name
Kathryn Sharpe spoke about her ongoing correspondence with Alan Bodell, Looney’s grandson in Scotland, who found and sent photos of “Jack” Looney with his parents and siblings, as well as the handsome school photo shown here. Alan also shared information about the Looney family origins on the Island of Man, and a family tree going back to 1722. The family history documents the origin of the name Looney. It is the anglicized form of the Gaelic “O Luanaigh, “meaning a descendent of Luanaigh, which is a personal name derived from Luan, which means “a warrior.” How appropriate. And by the way, it is pronounced “loo knee.”
Looney revealed as “unknown fighter”
Although J. Thomas Looney appeared to have had only three Oxfordian publications in the fifteen-year period after his book “Shakespeare” Identified was published in 1920, he did not, in fact, turn away from Oxfordian work. Jim Warren uncovered fifteen letters Looney wrote in 1920 and 1921 to editors of publications that had run reviews critical of his book, showing that Looney was intensely engaged in defending himself and his ideas from the attacks in those reviews, and in further substantiating the validity of the Oxfordian claim. Looney wrote that he had “exposed himself to as severe an ordeal as any writer has been called upon to face.” It is now apparent that John Thomas Looney was a fighter—mild mannered on the outside, perhaps, but with a spine of steel inside. Warren’s presentation describes how Looney defended the Oxfordian claim, newspaper by newspaper, journal by journal, during that difficult first year. Warren’s presentation can be seen on YouTube here: http://tinyurl.com/y5yagmqh
Brainstorm sparks new ideas, funds, and volunteers for centennial celebration
Brian Wildenthal led attendees in a fast-paced brainstorm of ways the SOF might celebrate Looney and other Oxfordian luminaries who built on his seminal discovery of the identity of Shakespeare. There were lots of ideas, two anonymous donations totaling $1,100 for centennial publicity, several slogan and t-shirt suggestions, as well as volunteers who promised to work to pull off local events during what we’re coming to think of as ‘The Year of Shakespeare Identified.’
SI-100 Committee membership nearly doubles
Oxfordian Bob Meyers said, “The anniversary of the founding document of the Oxfordian movement is an absolutely critical moment that should not be underplayed in any way; it’s extraordinary. We are talking together because of the publication 98 years ago of Looney’s book. Without that book, we’re not here, and the Stratfordians could go on their fantastical way. It’s a critical moment.” A lot of people agree, and are bringing new energy, skills, and ideas to the SI-100. We are pleased to welcome eight new committee members: John Hamill (SOF president), Joella Werlin, Linda Bullard, Catherine Hatinguais, Bob Meyers, Earl Showerman, Kevin Gilvary, and Stewart Wilcox.
SAM Day engages Facebook audience with four live talks
SOF’s second annual Shakespeare Authorship Mystery (SAM) Day successfully experimented with Facebook Live broadcasting to offer live video and interactive text chat with viewers, as well as the ability to record and share the videos later. Four engaging speakers gave full presentations and provided back and forth discussion with those present:
Ros Barber: Introduction to the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Tom Regnier: The Law in Shakespeare
Roger Stritmatter: Seventeen Reasons Oxford Wrote Shakespeare
Michael Delahoyde: Shakespeare in Italy
Their videos received between 700-1,000 views each, and you can see them here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Shakespeare-Oxford-Fellowship-96412830317/videos
On November 8, the SOF had six thousand Facebook views, far higher than the average of up to 500/day. SAM Day is an opportunity to expand our reach and hone our message, for example, to experiment to learn how to “meme” the Authorship Question in a way that speaks to the uninitiated. We welcome new ideas about activities and communications for this annual event.
Jim Warren’s 2018-2019 research and publications highlight Looney’s accomplishments
In 2018, Jim Warren continued his research into the life of J. Thomas Looney and the early years of the Oxfordian movement with visits to the British Library and the Oxfordian archives at Brunel University. That research revealed that Looney had published 53 shorter pieces after the publication of “Shakespeare” Identified in response to reviews of the book and to present new information uncovered since it had been published. (42 of those 53 pieces are “new;” only 11 pieces had been known of in the middle of 2017.) That research resulted in the publication of three Oxfordian texts: The annotated Centenary Edition of “Shakespeare” Identified, which identifies the sources of more than 230 passages in it that Looney quoted from other works; “Shakespeare” Revealed, an annotated collection of Looney’s 53 shorter pieces; and an annotated modern edition of Esther Singleton’s novel, Shakespearian Fantasias, which introduces Edward de Vere as a character in several of Shakespeare’s plays.
Jim continued his research in 2019, thanks to a grant from the SOF’s Research Grant Program, returning to London for further research at Brunel University, the British Library and the University of London. In those libraries he found more than 30 letters Looney sent to prominent Oxfordians of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as two thousand pieces of Oxfordian ephemera, including dozens of issues of Shakespeare Fellowship (SF) Circulars that Col. Bernard R. Ward sent to SF members to keep them informed of research findings and Oxfordian publications.
This work will result in several publications in the coming year. By summer 2019, Jim will have completed a database of the contents of the De Vere Society Archives and the Shakespeare Fellowship/Shakespearean Authorship Trust Archives, both housed at Brunel University, and the Katharine E. Eggar archives housed at the University of London’s Senate House Library. He expects to complete two books by the hundredth anniversary of the publication of “Shakespeare” Identified on March 4, 2020: John Thomas Looney and “Shakespeare” Identified: The 100th Anniversary of the Book that is Revolutionizing Shakespeare Studies; and a collection of the full texts of more than 200 letters and SF Circulars titled Oxfordian Letters and SF Circulars 1920-1945: The First 25 Years of the Oxfordian Movement as Told Through the Written Communications of the First Generations of Oxfordians. He is also at work on a biography of Looney, John Thomas Looney and His Worlds: A Biography of a Most Unusual Man, set to appear before the 2020 SOF Conference.
The Oxfordian publishes five of Looney’s letters from the Bookman’s Journal
The Oxfordian (Vol. 20, September 2018) published five important letters written by J. Thomas Looney to The Bookman’s Journal in Great Britain in the early 1920s, which center on the literary reception of “Shakespeare” Identified. These letters, re-discovered by Jim Warren and hitherto unknown to scholars, defend the methods which Looney employed in his research and the accuracy of his findings.
De Vere Society contributes to Looney’s headstone and Lit & Phil Society
England’s De Vere Society contributed £500 in 2018 to memorialize John Thomas Looney. The gift had two recipients: Looney’s grandson accepted funds to help pay for his share of the accurate granite headstone and surround marking the grave of John Thomas Looney and his wife, Elizabeth; and the Literary & Philosophical Society in England, where Looney did his research for “Shakespeare” Identified, received funds to purchase books on the authorship question. The DVS and the SOF are putting together lists of books to purchase and donate to the library.
Goals for 2019 (and some for 2020)
- Plan an event in a major US city in March 2020 to mark the publication of “Shakespeare” Identified.
- Stay in touch with J. T. Looney’s descendants
- Implement memorials at the Newcastle Literary & Philosophical Society
- Assist with publicity for Jim Warren’s books and related materials
- Leverage SAM day to explore social media and connect with other doubters
- Raise funds to support and publicize centennial year events
- Stay in touch with Oxfordian and doubter groups worldwide about their plans for the centennial
- In coordination with efforts to locate the research materials of Looney and other early Oxfordians, continue working with the Data Preservation Committee to find, inventory, and archive valuable historic materials.
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About the SI-100 Committee
We are coordinating a powerful celebration of the 100-year anniversary of J. T. Looney’s publication of “Shakespeare” Identified in 2020, using the SOF website, social media, publications, and annual conference. We encourage Oxfordians to create and implement their ideas to celebrate locally, and we will help them publicize their events using SOF resources.
Get involved:
- Volunteer to help the SI-100 Committee.
- Follow us on Twitter: @ShakesOxFellows #2020Looney
- Ask to be put on our email list for news updates.
Contact us:
Web: https://www.shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/shakespeare-identified-100/
Email: 2020looney@gmail.com
