The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship celebrated the centennial of the publication of J. Thomas Looney’s groundbreaking book, “Shakespeare” Identified, with an afternoon symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2020. The event took place exactly 100 years to the day after this historic book was first published, launching the modern Oxfordian theory that “William Shakespeare” was the pseudonym of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
The audience of more than 70 included editor and book critic Ron Charles of the Washington Post, and reporter Elizabeth Winkler of the Wall Street Journal. In 2019 Winkler wrote two articles touching on the authorship question in The Atlantic. The symposium packed the Fourth Estate Room on the 13th floor of the National Press Building. The speakers (pictured above, from left) were Bonner Miller Cutting, Professor Roger Stritmatter, Tom Regnier, James A. Warren, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, and moderator Bob Meyers. The four-page program is available here as a PDF. Many of those attending commented enthusiastically about the event.
James A. Warren was the first speaker. He served as a U.S. Foreign Service officer for more than 20 years and is the editor of the centenary edition of “Shakespeare” Identified.
Warren’s keynote address was entitled “J. Thomas Looney and the Most Revolutionary Book in the History of Shakespeare Studies” (update: now on YouTube).
He explored how Looney’s insights changed our understanding of the author “Shakespeare,” the Shakespearean plays and poems, the Elizabethan theatre and era, and the nature of genius and literary creativity.
Attorney and former SOF president Tom Regnier spoke on “Justice Stevens, the Law of Evidence, and the Shakespeare Authorship Question.” He addressed the question of why some of the greatest minds of the last 100 years have been persuaded to doubt or reject the traditional theory of Shakespeare authorship, and often to embrace the Oxfordian theory — including lawyers, judges, and Supreme Court justices with lifetimes of experience analyzing evidence. (Updates: The SOF was deeply saddened by Regnier’s death from Covid-19, which he contracted a month later after returning home to Florida. His obituary is available here. His symposium lecture is now on YouTube.)
Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, director of the Oxfordian documentary film, Nothing Is Truer Than Truth and an adjunct professor at Lesley University and Northeastern University, spoke on the theme that “Every Author’s Life Tells a Story” (update: now on YouTube). She showed the trailer of her film and discussed how Oxford’s youthful travels in Europe, especially Italy — and his possible bisexuality — influenced the Shakespearean plays and poems. She also discussed how her documentary on Oxford was inspired by Looney’s work.
Bonner Miller Cutting, author of Necessary Mischief: Exploring the Shakespeare Authorship Question, spoke on the topic of “Profiling the Author: Will the Real Shakespeare Please Stand Up?” (update: now on YouTube) Cutting explained how Looney’s evidence-based “profile” method led him to Oxford as the author of the Shakespearean works.
Cutting also surveyed key facts explored by later researchers that corroborate Looney’s thesis, including Queen Elizabeth’s mysteriously generous grant to Oxford of an annuity of £1,000 per year, an extravagant sum at that time.
Dr. Roger Stritmatter, Professor of Humanities and Literature at Coppin State University in Baltimore, spoke on “Discovering Shakespeare’s Bible: My Journey From Rebel Graduate Student to Marginalized Professor” (update: now on YouTube). He explored how the Oxfordian theory has influenced Shakespeare studies over the past century, offering a perspective from his own unique vantage point in the field. He also surveyed fascinating connections between “Shakespeare” and Oxford’s life, again corroborating Looney’s thesis, as manifested in Oxford’s Geneva Bible.
Each speaker was introduced by Bob Meyers, who moderated question-and-answer sessions after each presentation. Meyers, an award-winning journalist and author, served previously as president of the National Press Foundation and director of the Harvard Journalism Fellowship for Advanced Studies in Public Health.
The Centennial Symposium was followed by the cutting of a celebratory cake. Bryan H. Wildenthal, chair of the SOF Centennial (“SI-100”) Committee, was the leading organizer of the event. The SOF also thanks moderator Bob Meyers, SOF President John Hamill, Kathryn Sharpe (past SI-100 committee chair for several years), Linda Bullard, Catherine Hatinguais, Jennifer Newton, Joella Werlin, and all the other volunteers and generous donors who have helped make our centennial celebrations possible.
The symposium was videotaped and will appear on the SOF YouTube Channel in the near future (updates: as indicated above, Warren’s keynote lecture is now available, along with the presentations by Regnier, Eagan-Donovan, Cutting, and Stritmatter; see also this news article about the 150th anniversary of Looney’s birth in 1870).
And the centennial isn’t over yet! Celebrations will continue with on-going local actions and events (update here), a De Vere Society celebration (update: postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic), and the SOF Annual Conference in October in Ashland, Oregon (updates: postponed until 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; the SOF held an online Shakespeare Authorship Symposium, Oct. 2–3, 2020, in lieu of an annual conference, and plans another online symposium in the fall of 2021; see “Future Ashland Conference Plans” here, by scrolling to the end).
[published March 5, 2020, updated 2021]
