Web links
The SAC takes no position on the identity of the author, but the links described below should provide a good starting point for anyone interested in either exploring the authorship issue, or obtaining additional information about William Shakespeare and his works.
Sites which are neutral about the author's true identity
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Shakespearean Authorship Trust
Website of the largest agnostic U.K.-based authorship organization. The SAT is dedicated to open and friendly enquiry into the question of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays and poems. In recent years it has held conferences and lectures, and arranged educational displays at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.
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Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable
Los Angeles-area organization that meets several times per year to hear speakers on various topics related to the authorship issue and the Elizabethan-Jacobean period. It includes proponents of numerous alternative candidates.
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Website developed in conjunction with the PBS Frontline documentary The Shakespeare Mystery. Copies of the videotape are no longer available, but transcripts can be downloaded. The site also provides much other useful information. (Although the documentary deals with an alternative candidate, it reaches no conclusion.)
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Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography
Website of Diana Price, author of Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography: New Evidence of an Authorship Problem (Greenwood Press). Price systematically examines the evidence for the Stratford man, compares it to evidence for 24 other writers of his time, and concludes that he did not live a literary life. Indeed, William Shakspere of Stratford is shown to be an extreme outlier in the lack of contemporaneous documentary evidence for his alleged literary career. A tour de force, the book is a great example of the proper interpretation of historical documentary evidence. Now out in a revised paperback edition (2012) at an affordable price from Amazon US ($19.95) or Amazon UK (£13.95).
Non-Stratfordian sites which favor specific candidates
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Website of the first peer-reviewed journal to focus on the Shakespeare Authorship Issue. Published from 1993 to 1999 in 13 semi-annual issues totaling 930 pages, its contents are indexed by the three leading bibliographies in the humanities. All articles in this literary-historical journal are now available on CD in searchable PDF format.
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Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning
Website dedicated to exploring the life and achievements of this great Renaissance genius, from his contributions to scientific thought to his possible role in creating Shakespeare's works. The site links to the Francis Bacon Society, the U.K.-based membership organization dedicated to studying Bacon's works, influence and authorship candidacy.
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The Francis Bacon Research Trust
Website dedicated to demonstrating how Francis Bacon's philosophy, as expressed in the works published in his own name, as well as those in the Shakespeare canon (of which he is held to be the true author), are consistent with the “Western Wisdom Tradition” and can be used to promote the betterment of mankind.
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The De Vere Society of Great Britain
Website of British advocates for Edward de Vere. It contains a calendar of events in the U.K., past articles in the DVS Newsletter, and other publications, most notably Great Oxford, a collection of articles on Edward de Vere. The DVS meets quarterly in various locations around the U.K. It is welcoming and hospitable.
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Website of the primary, U.K.-based organization for Marlovians. The site includes a great deal of information on Marlowe's known works, examples of articles from the Society's newsletter, and links to sites of several individual Marlovians. It provides an excellent starting place for anyone interested in exploring his candidacy.
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Neue Shake-speare Gesellschaft (“New Shake-speare Society”)
Website of a German Oxfordian organization based in Hamburg, Germany. While this is a relatively new site (March 2010), German authorship scholars are nothing new. A number of outstanding ones formed an organization and developed this site, featuring many important articles not found elsewhere. Mostly, but not entirely, in German.
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Who Was Shakespeare? Christopher Marlowe
English language version of the website of leading German Marlovian Dr. Bastian Conrad, Professor of Neurology. Includes a blog, articles by Conrad and other Marlovians, and information on Professor Conrad's impressive book on Marlowe as Shakespeare, Der wahre Shakespeare: Christopher Marlowe.
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Website of the prolific Oxfordian researcher Nina Green. The site includes transcripts and translations of hundreds of highly relevant Elizabethan era documents, including the letters and poetry of Edward de Vere, the works of many of his literary contemporaries, and over sixty back issues of her Edward de Vere Newsletter.
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Website of Richard M. Waugaman, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University, and Training Analyst Emeritus, Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. Includes Waugaman's articles on the authorship issue (many, but not all, written from a psychoanalytic point of view), plus several book reviews and essays.
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Shakespeare Authorship Sourcebook
Website of long time Oxfordian Mark Alexander. The site is a good research resource, providing lots of interesting articles and information. It includes writings of Charles Wisner Barrell, Gwenneth Bowen and Lilian Winstanley.
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The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship
Website of the largest Oxfordian membership organization in the US, formed via the merger of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society in 2013. This is an excellent, attractive, frequently updated website, including a complete archive of Oxfordian newsletters, conference abstracts and videos, and articles from its two peer-reviewed scholarly journals, The Oxfordian, and Brief Chronicles.
Mainstream Shakespeare sites
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Website of The Arden Shakespeare, one of the main publishers of the works.
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Website of the world-famous library in Washington D.C. The Folger is home to the largest collection of Shakespeare printed material in the world.
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Site that aims to make Shakespeare more accessible to students. Translates the works into modern English; provides articles on the author's life and times.
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Site of the corporation in Stratford that owns and operates Shakespeare-related attractions, museums, archives, education and research facilities, etc.
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Site of a general interest magazine on Shakespeare, published jointly by Georgetown University and Cambridge University Press three times per year.
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Website that promotes the traditional Bard, and Stratford tourism. The site contains lots of very useful information for both scholars and tourists, including bibliographies, and listings for numerous local sights, accommodations, schedules, etc.
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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Website sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It includes the text of all the plays and sonnets, fully searchable.
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Ultimate Shakespeare Resource Guide
We're not sure about “ultimate”, but this list features a wide variety of interesting and useful resources about Shakespeare.