Compiled by Kathryn Sharpe
In this issue:
- SOF members get SI-100 update at Ashland conference
- James Warren continues to examine impact of “Shakespeare” Identified
- List of known letters of J. T. Looney
- SI-100 Committee membership changes
- New First Folio Committee formed
- “Shakespeare” Identified recording on web
- SOF Board, Grants Committee, and Editors lend support to SI-100
- Goals for 2016
- Explore social media
SOF members get SI-100 update at Ashland conference
In September, four SI-100 committee members gave a quick progress update to SOF Annual Conference attendees in Ashland, Oregon. Kathryn Sharpe summarized achievements and goals, James Warren the progress on his book, and Shelly Maycock and Roger Stritmatter some possible responses to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s plans to exhibit copies of the First Folio, including publishing a special volume of Brief Chronicles devoted to the First Folio.
James Warren continues to examine impact of “Shakespeare” Identified
SI-100 Committee member James Warren continues to lead the preliminary work to develop and organize materials for a book on the impact that“Shakespeare” Identified has had on Shakespeare studies and the wider literary world over the past 100 years. A tentative title is John Thomas Looney and “Shakespeare” Identified: The 100th anniversary of the book that is revolutionizing Shakespeare Studies. The focus will be on how “Shakespeare” Identified made its way in the world and how it changed and is changing the way we look at Shakespeare and his works.
The book will include sections on Looney and how he came to write this book, plus personal descriptions of how his book affected specific individuals. For example, Esther Singleton described the deep effect it had on her, and Sigmund Freud wrote about his reaction to the book. Warren is looking for other reactions to include. In addition, the book will examine how Stratfordians have responded to “Shakespeare Identified.” This might be a short chapter, since to our knowledge no one in academia has made a serious effort to refute the ideas in “Shakespeare” Identified.
Appendices will include the full texts of all of the articles Looney published on the authorship question (10 so far), all of his letters that can be located (15 so far, see below), and full texts of many reviews of and articles about Looney’s books and ideas. About a dozen reviews appeared in 1920 and 1921, soon after the book was published, but there probably are more, and James will try to track them down in the next two years.
List of known letters of J. T. Looney
Fifteen letters to or from J. Thomas Looney have been found. If you know about or have located additional letters, please contact James Warren at jwarren1000@yahoo.com
- Letter to Gillett Burgess (4 July 1920)
- Letter to George G. Greenwood (6 April 1921)
- Letter to George G. Greenwood (5 March 1922)
- Letter to George G. Greenwood (14 March 1922)
- Letter to Eva Turner Clark (26 June 1926)
- Letter to Gillett Burgess (22 June 1927)
- Letter to Eva Turner Clark (10 August 1928)
- Letter to the editor of The Shakespeare Pictorial re death of George Greenwood (February 1929)
- Letter to Carolyn Wells (6 December 1932)
- Letter to Joan V. Robinson (3 September 1933)
- Letter to Charles Wisner Barrell (6 June 1937)
- Letter to Will D. Howe (2 June 1938)
- Letter to Sigmund Freud (15 July 1938)
- Letter to Eva Turner Clark (10 Nov. 1939)
- Letter to Charles Wisner Barrell (15 May 1942)
SI-100 Committee membership changes
Shakespeare Identified Centennial (SI-100) Committee members James Warren, Jennifer Newton, Kathryn Sharpe, Linda Theil (Chair), and Tom Regnier (SOF President) are pleased to welcome new member Shelly Maycock.
Shakespeare Identified Centennial (SI-100) Committee members James Warren, Jennifer Newton, Kathryn Sharpe, Linda Theil (Chair), and Tom Regnier (SOF President) are pleased to welcome new member Shelly Maycock.
- Shelly Maycock is currently an English Instructor at Virginia Tech, teaching first year writing. She holds an M.A. in English Literature from Virginia Tech (1985) and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Hollins University (1987). She worked for several years at an independent bookstore, and then as an independent publishers’ representative. Her doubts about authorship evolved in her undergrad English studies, in graduate school, and through research for an early modern novel. Finally, she learned about de Vere from Mark Anderson’s biography.
New First Folio committee formed
Former SI-100 committee members Bryan Wildenthal and Roger Stritmatter have joined the recently created First Folio Committee to respond to the upcoming 2016 First Folio tour. Other committee members are Shelly Maycock, Bill Camarinos, Katherine Chiljan, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, and Tom Regnier. If you would like to get involved in that effort, or for more information, please email Chair Bryan Wildenthal at bryanw@gmail.com
“Shakespeare” Identified recording on web
You now can listen to a LibriVox recording of Looney’s “Shakespeare” Identified, following a link on the SI-100 page on the SOF website: http://
SOF Board, Grants Committee, and Editors lend support to SI-100
We’re pleased to report interest and support from other committees and the Board of the SOF.
- The SOF Board is committed in principle to holding a SI-100 celebration at the annual SOF conference in 2020. Discussions on where that conference will be held are ongoing, but two possibilities are Ashland, OR and Washington, DC.
- The SOF Grants Committee added SI-100 related articles to their list of options for research grant funding.
- SOF Editors Michael Delahoyde, Roger Stritmatter, Alex McNeil, and Chris Pannell are considering SI-100 tie-ins with their print publications, including soliciting articles related to Looney or“Shakespeare” Identified for upcoming editions.
Goals for 2016
- Develop a network of authorship sites displaying an SI-100 badge supporting the SI-100 celebration and linking to the SI-100 page on SOF website.
- Expand mailing list of people interested in SI-100.
- Continue to explore using social media to meet our goals. Increase followers on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. (See below.)
- Investigate having an actor read letters of J. Thomas Looney that postdate the publication of “Shakespeare” Identified.
- Contact the Looney family.
- Develop a graphic identity for badge, web pages, t-shirt, communications, etc.
Explore social media
SI-100 Committee members are exploring the potential of social media to advance their work as well as the communications goals of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. We would like to increase our followers on the new platforms, and we encourage you to give social media a try. On the upper right corner of the SOF home page http://www.
______________________________
About the SI-100 Committee
Our goal is to coordinate 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 ideas to celebrate locally, and we will help them publicize their events using SOF resources.
Get involved:
- Volunteer to help the SI-100 Committee.
- Take the survey. Tell us your ideas and what you’d like to work on: http://www.surveymoz.com/
s/124026VMSFO - Follow us on Twitter: @ShakesOxFellows #2020Looney
Contact us:
