Get Involved in the Shakespeare Authorship Debate!
Become an Associate or Life Scholar of the SARC

The Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre (SARC) is proud to announce a new initiative in the centuries-old Shakespeare Authorship Debate. Interested persons from all walks of life throughout the United States and Europe can now join with the academic world to advance the inquiry into the origins of the Shakespeare texts by joining the SARC's global on-line project that extends access to many of the academic world's most important published resources to interested researchers formally unaffiliated with a conventional university campus community.

Housed in the "The Penthouse" of the George R. White Library & Learning Center on the Concordia University campus in Portland, Oregon, the SARC is the academic world's central point for gathering and disseminating archives on the history of the debate, engaging in and coordinating much of the debate as it continues today, and serving as a resource for all inquirers - college and high-school students, college and high-school teachers, and life-long but not campus-bound learners - who savor a passion to read, think about, and participate in one of the most fascinating and unresolved issues in Western culture.

Don't leave the quest for the Shakespeare of history stalled in an intellectual ditch, captive to an unreflective Tradition and ossified orthodoxy that too often contentedly thinks there's little new to learn from deeper historical inquiry, critical linguistic investigation, close textual scrutiny and the application of interpretive approaches that respect and account for circumstances and persons responsible for shaping, influencing and creating texts that, by a variety of sometimes awkward, tortured and unlikely paths, have come down to us through the tumult of war, the chaos and bloodshed of revolution, draconian suppression, calculated historical revisionism, and tyrannical censorship.

By joining the SARC, you not only help support this initiative of others to open up and professionally advance this inquiry into the many enigmas and questions posed by the Shakespeare texts, but in order to pursue your own inquiry into Shakespeare and, Horatio-like, assist in the process of "reporting the cause aright," you gain access to special academic resources usually reserved for use by faculty and students on a university campus.

Associate Scholars of the SARC are official members of the Concordia University community and have 24/7 access to such scholarly resources as JSTOR, the World Shakespeare Bibliography, LexisNexis Academic Universe, LION, the MLA Bibliography, Oxford Reference Online, Cambridge Histories Online, Theatre in Video (including the complete BBC series of Shakespeare plays) and many other databases that link subscribers to tens of thousands of full-text journal titles and scholarly articles.

An applicant for status as an Associate Scholar of the SARC must meet the following requirements:

  • Possess at least a B.A. and/or be a student or faculty member at the high school, college or university level in America or Europe.
  • Provide a photo ID to the SARC accompanied by a statement of approximately 250 words’ length indicating the applicant’s particular investigatory interests and goals for the Shakespeare Authorship inquiry.
  • An applicant for Associate or Life Scholar standing will include, with his or her photo and statement, the applicant's full name, birth date, current address and home and/or work phone for university records.

Associate Scholars become members of the Concordia University community upon the university's acceptance of their applications to become SARC Associate or Life Scholars, via these new Scholars' automatic enrollment in CU's ENG 099 course: SARC Research (a zero credit course which registers one as a SARC Scholar, in the student category, to connect to the university and thereby, use on-campus and online research assets [Shakespeare At CU listserv membership is also included] ). The annual registration fee of $125 for Associate Scholars of the SARC is applied, accordingly, as tuition and is annually renewable, indefinitely, as long as the Associate Scholar remains in good standing as a member of the SARC's scholarly community by demonstrating fidelity to the codes of gentility, honor and respect that define scholarly cooperation, the University's academic integrity policy, and conversation within the Concordia University community.

Associate Scholars of the SARC are committed to the activities of the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre and the expansion of the Centre’s Shakespeare collections (lodged and indexed in the George R. White Library & Learning Centre at Concordia University). Members may also wish to demonstrate their support for program development and the expansion of SARC resources by (1) becoming members of the Director’s Society ($1500/yr); (2) donating new or out-of-print texts to the library’s on-site holdings; and/or (3) making contributions of manuscripts, works of art and/or archivable collectibles for sale, preservation or display in the SARC’s Barbara and John Crowley Gallery and Exhibition Center.

Associate and Life Scholars of the SARC are encourged (though not required) to demonstrate their support, as well, by attendance at such SARC forums as the annual Shakespeare Authorship Studies Conference, the annual Shakespeare Authorship Studies Seminar and / or various SARC-sponsored events, programs and lectures. Enrollment as a student or auditor in Concordia University courses that feature attention to Shakespeare and the Shakespeare Authorship Question is also open to qualified Scholars of the SARC.

Affiliate levels:

  • Associate Scholar of the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre - $125 annually
  • Life Scholar of the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre - $10,000

Payment:

Payment can be made by submitting a cheque payable to The Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre at Concordia University and directed to the attention of the SARC Director, Prof Daniel Wright. Memberships commence with the successful processing of each membership application or renewal. Contact the SARC Director to arrange to join the Director's Club and/or to contribute materials - such as books, manuscripts or works of art - to the SARC in support of its educational mission.

When sending your cheque in for payment, please include the following in a letter or email:

  • Full Name
  • Home Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email Address
  • Date of Birth
  • Photo (passport photo is acceptable)


SARC Intern James Gaynor works with Jose Carrillo de Albornoz Fabregas in Barcelona on creating an English translation of one of Senor de Albornoz Fabregas's published articles on the Shakespeare Authorship Question

For more information about the SARC and to join the SARC's mission as an Associate or Life Scholar, write

Dr Daniel Wright, Director
The Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre
Concordia University
2811 NE Holman
Portland, OR 97211-6099