SOAR
Shakespeare Online
Authorship Resources
What is SOAR?
SOAR (Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources) is a catalog/database owned and managed by the New England Shakespeare Oxford Library in Somerville (MA), which is dedicated to fully documenting and making available to the world all the research and resources generated by the Oxfordian movement over the past 100 years in the ongoing Shakespeare authorship controversy. The Oxfordian movement promotes the view that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the man behind the "Shake-speare" pen name. SOAR is closely associated with the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship and the De Vere Society, which are the two most prominent organizations presently researching and promoting the Oxfordian theory. The full contents of all the publications of these two organizations are cataloged in SOAR, along with the contents of all the publications of past Oxfordian and/or affiliated Shakespeare authorship organizations.The records in SOAR have been compiled over the past twelve years, working with James Warren and his Index to Oxfordian Publications (now in its fifth edition, available at amazon.com). SOAR is in effect the online version of the index, plus some online resources not included in the index. The catalog is maintained at LibraryWorld, and can be searched by clicking on the link above. Detailed instructions on how to search the catalog are available at the SOAR catalog site.
The primary purpose of this specialized catalog is to bring together in one place a resource that identifies all the articles, essays, papers, book reviews and news reports that have been published by Oxfordian and other authorship organizations over the past century (i.e., since 1920, when John T. Looney's Shakespeare Identified was published). Not only are resources identified, but online links are provided whenever a resource is available somewhere on the web. For items that are not yet digitized and/or accessible the library owns hard copy of nearly everything listed in the catalog, and can provide copies to library members and SOAR subscribers.
Contents
The catalog, as of the end of 2024, includes more than 10,000 unique entries from all Oxfordian publications of the past 100 years (see the list below) along with selected chapters and essays from books, selected unpublished papers, and essays and articles on selected websites and blogs. More than 5,000 of these entries are for articles about the Shakespeare Authorship Question itself (ranging from short research notes to longer essays on key issues within Shakespeare studies and Shakespeare authorship studies), with the remainder of the 10,000 being book and film reviews, news reports, coverage of authorship society conferences and meetings, and the contents of important websites.
All SOAR catalog records include the basic bibliographic information about an article and -- whenever available -- a link to an online version. Presently there are online links to the full text of articles and/or of complete newsletter issues for all the material published in the Shakespeare Oxford Society Newsletter (1965-1995), the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter (1996 to date), Shakespeare Matters (2001-2013), the Shakespeare Fellowship newsletter (1939-1943, American), the Shakespeare Fellowship Quarterly (1944-1948, American), the Edward de Vere Newsletter (1989-1994), The Oxfordian (1998 to date), and Brief Chronicles (2009-2016). In 2020-21 the full contents of the Elizabethan Review, the Shakespeare Fellowship Newsletter (1937-1958, English), and the "Shakespeare Fellowship" page (1929-1936) in the Shakespeare Pictorial were added.
Eventually all records will also include a brief abstract and/or an excerpt from the article itself, and subject tags. At present 740 SOAR records -- all for longer, more detailed research articles -- include abstracts. For material not available online, members may request a scanned copy from the library.
The publications cataloged in SOAR
Every Oxfordian publication since the 1920s (journals, newsletters and collections) is covered in SOAR, with the full contents of each issue or book cataloged and, in many cases, with links provided to the full text of these contents. In addition there are selected articles included from other authorship publications, and from earlier years.
These publications are:
AA Shakespeare Oxford Society : 50th Anniversary (Collection, 2007) AWA Anthologies, ed. by Altrocchi & Whittemore (Collection, 2009) BAR The Bard (1975-1983) BC Brief Chronicles (2009-2016) DS Discovering Shakespeare (Collection, 2009) DSN De Vere Society Newsletters (1988 to date) EDN Edward de Vere Newsletter (1989-1994) ER_ALL The Elizabethan Review (1993-1999) GOX Great Oxford (Collection, 2004) TLS Lame Storyteller (Collection of Peter Moore writings, 2009) TOX The Oxfordian (1998 to date) PRG Poet's Rage (Collection, 2013) SAR_ALL Shakespearean Authorship Review (1959-1973) SCE Shakespeare Cross-Examination (ABA Collection, 1961) SFA Shakespeare Fellowship Newsletter (American)(1939-1943) SFE Shakespeare Fellowship Newsletter (English) (1937-1958) SFQ Shakespeare Fellowship Quarterly (1944-1948) SM Shakespeare Matters (2001-2013) TSN_ALL Shakespeare Newsletter (the "Oxfordian" column) (1979-1991) SOSN Shakespeare Oxford Society Newsletter (1965-1995) SON Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter (1996 to date) SHP_ALL Shakespeare Pictorial (1929-1936, the "Shakespeare Fellowship" page) SSR Spear-Shaker Review (1987-1991) TLR Tennessee Law Review (Collection, 2004)Publications have also been assigned short 2-4 letter codes (to the left of each title above), which aid in calling up the full contents of any one title and/or any one issue of a title. In some instances "ALL" has been added to these codes to restrict search results to just the titles and not other similar words. These codes can be expanded to 6-7 letters/numbers by adding the year of publication, which makes it possible to call up all the records for just one publication, and also all the records for just one year of any given publication, or just one issue.
For example, entering "SAR_ALL" in the "Any Word" search box will retrieve all the articles published in the Shakespearean Authorship Review from 1959-1973 (375 total). Entering "SAR1960" will retrieve only those articles published in the Shakespearean Authorship Review in 1960 (33 total). Entering "SAR1960 spring" will retrieve only the 17 articles in the spring 1960 issue of the Shakespearean Authorship Review.
In addition to the Oxfordian publications covered, SOAR also contains more than 2,000 records for Shakespeare authorship related feature articles, book and film reviews, and news items that have been published in more than 100 publicatons (ranging from major newspapers to small magazines and newsletters to academic journals) around the world.
Future Plans
Immediate plans for SOAR in 2025 call for providing online access to the full text of all articles presently cataloged, but not yet linked to a full text source. This includes the De Vere Society Newsletter, The Bard, The Shakespearean Authorship Review and the "Oxfordian" column in the Shakespeare Newsletter.
Future plans also include expanding the inclusion of selected articles from other authorship publications supporting alternative candidates, such as Marlowe, Bacon, etc., and for expanding the inclusion of more selected articles related to the Shakespeare authorship question and the Oxfordian theory from both print and web-based resources, including web pages and blogs. There will also be a number of entries for online versions of original manuscripts, letters and other documents relating to the Shakespeare authorship question in general, mainstream Shakespeare texts and studies, and Elizabethan literature, politics and history.
Subscriptions: You can help in building and maintaining the SOAR catalog by subscribing, or by making a donation supporting the project. Subscriptions and/or donations not only help us with the real costs of maintaining and enhancing SOAR, but will also entitle you to be provided with scanned copies of any articles not available for open online access. The New England Shakespeare Oxford Library has hard copy or PDF copies of nearly everything listed in SOAR.
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