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Encyclopedia Americana

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For the 19th-century encyclopedia, seeEncyclopædia Americana(Lieber).

Encyclopedia Americana
Encyclopedia Americana at Göttingen State and University Library
AuthorFrancis Lieber(1800–1872)
LanguageEnglish
SubjectGeneral
Published1829–33[1]
Media type1

Encyclopedia Americanais a generalencyclopedia[1]written inAmerican English.It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America.[2]: 31 WithCollier's EncyclopediaandEncyclopædia Britannica,Encyclopedia Americanabecame one of the three major and large English-language general encyclopedias; the three were sometimes collectively called "the ABCs of encyclopedias".[2]: 23 Following the acquisition ofGrolierin 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced byScholastic.

Theencyclopediahas more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words).Americanais international in scope and is known for its detailed coverage of American andCanadiangeography and history.[1]Americanais also known for its strong coverage of biographies, as well as scientific and technical subjects.[1]Written by 6,500 contributors, theEncyclopedia Americanaincludes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 fact boxes. Major articles are signed by their contributors, many beingscholarspre-eminent in their field.[1]

Long available as a 30-volume print set, theEncyclopedia Americanais now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008,Scholasticsaid that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition.[3]The company's final print edition was released in 2006.[1]

The online version of theEncyclopedia Americana,first introduced in 1996,[1]continues to be updated and sold. This work, like the print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the databases in the Scholastic GO! reference service (previously known as Grolier Online), which also includes theGrolier Multimedia Encyclopedia,an encyclopedia for middle and high school students,The New Book of Knowledge,an encyclopedia for ages 7-14 and particularly grades 3-6, America the Beautiful, Lands and Peoples, Amazing Animals of the World, and The New Book of Popular Science.[4][2]: 31 According to The New York Public Library,[5]Scholastic GO! also includes the La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, a Spanish-language general encyclopedia for students in middle through high school.[6]However, the previously mentioned Scholastic blog does not show that.[4]It is possible that La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre is only included in the Spanish version of Scholastic GO!, though the existense of that in itself is unsure due to the same New York Public Library link saying that the language of Scholastic GO! is English.[5]Scholastic GO! is not available to individual subscribers.

History and predecessors[edit]

This 1921 advertisement for theEncyclopedia Americanasuggests that other encyclopedias are as out-of-date as the locomotives of 90 years earlier.

There have been three separate works using the titleEncyclopedia Americana.

The first work began publication in 1829 byFrancis Lieber,an influential 19th century German-American scholar.[2]: 31 The 13 volumes of the first edition were completed in 1833, and other editions and printings followed in 1835, 1836, 1847–1848, 1849 and 1858. According to one contemporary source, the original price in 1832, at which time several volumes had been issued, was to be $2.50 per volume for 12 volumes, or $30 in total.[7][circular reference][8][circular reference]At first, Lieber planned only an English-language translation of the 7th edition of the popular German encyclopedia Konversations-Lexikon, familiarly known as Brockhaus after its publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. However, as work on the new encyclopedia progressed, Lieber sought and added original articles by leading U.S. writers and intellectuals of the day. United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, for instance, contributed more than 120 pages of legal material to the 1st edition. Hence, when the Americana began appearing some 165 years ago, it represented a hybrid of 2 cultures, German and American.[2]: 31 

A secondEncyclopedia Americanawas published byJ.M. Stoddartbetween 1883 and 1889, as a supplement to American reprintings of the 9th edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica.It was fourquartovolumes meant to "extend and complete the articles inBritannica".[9]Stoddart's work, however, is not connected to the earlier work by Lieber.[10]

In 1902, a new, 16-volumeEncyclopedia Americanawas published under the editorial supervision ofScientific Americanmagazine. The magazine's editor,Frederick Converse Beach,was editor-in-chief, assisted by hundreds of eminent scholars and authorities as consulting editors and article authors. Beach also expanded the encyclopedia's coverage, especially in the area of the physical and life sciences.[2]: 31 George Edwin Rineswas appointed managing editor in 1903.[11]Between 1903 and 1906 the publisher wasR.S. Peale & Co.From 1906 through 1936,Encyclopedia Americanawas published by the Americana Corporation, with the editorial support ofScientific American.The relationship withScientific Americanwas terminated in 1911.[12]From 1907 to 1912, the encyclopedia was published asThe Americana.

In 1918–20, the Americana Corporation published a new, International, 30-volume edition, with George Edwin Rines continuing as editor-in-chief.[11][2]: 31 It was the last entirely new edition of the encyclopedia.[2]: 31 A yearbook, which appeared under a variety of titles, was also published each year beginning in 1923 and continuing until 2008.[1]

In 1936, the Americana Corporation was purchased by The Grolier Society, later renamedGrolier Incorporated.The Americana Corporation's president, J. Cooper Graham, became a vice president of Grolier.[13]By the late1960s, Grolier's annual sales ofEncyclopediaAmericanaand its sister publications underGrolier—The Book of Knowledge,theAmerican Peoples Encyclopedia,theBook of Popular Science,andLands and Peopleswere over $181 million,[14]and the company held a 30 percent market share as the leading publisher of encyclopedias in the United States.[15]Grolier's corporate headquarters were in a large building (variously named the Americana Building and the Grolier Building) in MidtownManhattan,at 575Le xing ton Avenue.Sales during this period were accomplished primarily throughmail-orderanddoor-to-dooroperations.Telemarketingand third-party distribution ofEncyclopedia Americanathrough Grolier's Lexicon Publications subsidiary added to sales volumes in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, Grolier had moved its operations toDanbury, Connecticut.

Later developments[edit]

In 1988, Grolier was purchased by the French media companyHachette,which owned a well-known French-language encyclopedia, theHachette Encyclopedia.Hachette was later absorbed by the French conglomerate theLagardère Group.

A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia was published in 1995. Although the text and images were stored on separate disks, it was in keeping with the standards current at the time. More importantly, the work had been digitized, allowing for the release of an online version in 1997. Over the next few years, the product was augmented with additional features, functions, supplementary references, Internet links, and a current events journal. A redesigned interface and partly re-engineered product, featuring enhanced search capabilities and a first-everADA-compliant, text-only version for users with disabilities, was presented in 2002.

The acquisition of Grolier byScholasticfor US$400 million, took place in 2000. The new owners projected a 30% increase in operating income, although historically Grolier had experienced earnings of 7% to 8% on income.[16]Following the acquisition,Americanabecame part of a suite of educational resources, with those resources including The New Book of Knowledge, The New Book of Popular Science, America the Beautiful, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Amazing Animals of the World, and Lands and People.[4]All of those resources formed Grolier Online (now called Scholastic GO!). According to The New York Public Library,[5]Scholastic GO! also includes the La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, a Spanish-language general encyclopedia for students in middle through high school.[6]However, the previously mentioned Scholastic blog does not show that.[4]It is possible that La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre is only included in the Spanish version of Scholastic GO!, though the existense of that in itself is unsure due to the same New York Public Library link saying that the language of Scholastic GO! is English.[5]Staff reductions as a means of controlling costs also followed soon thereafter, even while an effort was made to augment the sales force. Cuts occurred every year between 2000 and 2007, leaving a much-depleted workforce to carry out the duties of maintaining a large encyclopedia database.[17]

In 2004, Scholastic stated thatAmericana's 2,500 online articles are being revised annually.[1]Today,Americanalives on as an integral database within the Scholastic GO! product.[4]

Editors-in-Chief[edit]

Critical Review[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghi"Encyclopedia Americana | American reference work".Encyclopædia Britannica.Archivedfrom the original on 25 June 2015.Retrieved10 April2021.
  2. ^abcdefghKister, K. F.(1994).Kister's Best Encyclopedias: A Comparative Guide to General and Specialized Encyclopedias(2nd ed.). Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press.ISBN0-89774-744-5.
  3. ^Noam Cohen (16 March 2008)."Start Writing the Eulogies for Print Encyclopedias".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 14 October 2018.Retrieved26 June2008.
  4. ^abcdeSullivan, Brittany (5 March 2018)."Introducing the re-engineered Scholastic GO! (+ a sweepstakes!)".Scholastic On Our Minds.Archivedfrom the original on 8 March 2018.Retrieved10 December2023.
  5. ^abcd"Scholastic GO".New York Public Library.Archivedfrom the original on 9 August 2022.Retrieved10 December2023.
  6. ^ab"Nueva enciclopedia cumbre en linea".Booklist.1 November 2003.Retrieved10 December2023.
  7. ^"how much it cost inside Wikipedia article Talk:Encyclopedia Americana".Wikipedia.13 February 2006.Archivedfrom the original on 26 May 2015.Retrieved10 December2023.
  8. ^"Encyclopædia Americana (Lieber)".Wikipedia.Archivedfrom the original on 8 October 2023.Retrieved10 December2023.
  9. ^"Literary Gossip".The Week: a Canadian journal of politics, literature, science and arts.Vol. 1, no. 12. 21 February 1884. p. 190.Retrieved26 April2013.
  10. ^Walsh, S. Padraig (1968).Anglo-American General Encyclopedias: A Historical Bibliography, 1703–1967.New York: Bowker. p. 42.OCLC221812838.
  11. ^abRines, George Edwin, ed. (1920)."Rines, George Edwin".Encyclopedia Americana.
  12. ^Collison, Robert (1964).Encyclopedias: Their History throughout the Ages.New York: Hafner.
  13. ^"J. Cooper Graham, 72, an Officer of Grolier, Inc".The New York Times.20 March 1973. p. 42.Archivedfrom the original on 11 March 2023.Retrieved10 March2023.
  14. ^Goodman Jr., George (29 October 1979)."Fred P. Murphy, 90, Ex-Chief of Grolier".The New York Times.p. D11.Retrieved10 December2023.
  15. ^Egelhof, Joseph (7 December 1970). "Sales Force Finds Rising Buying Spirit".Chicago Tribune.p. 81. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  16. ^"French Plan to Sell Grolier",PublishersWeekly,11/29/1999; "Scholastic to Acquire Grolier", press release, Scholastic Inc., 4/13/2000.
  17. ^"Scholastic Has Record Year and Begins Grolier Integration",PublishersWeekly,7/24/00; "Scholastic Sales Surge Continues",PublishersWeekly,1/01/01; "Robinson: Scholastic's Business Remains Strong",PublishersWeekly,10/01/01; "Sales Dip, Earnings Rise at Scholastic",PublishersWeekly,7/29/02; "Scholastic Cuts 400 from Global Workforce",PublishersWeekly,6/02/03; "Scholastic Takes a Charge",PublishersWeekly,7/19/04; "Scholastic Cuts 30 Spots in Library Unit",PublishersWeekly,6/02/05; "Scholastic to Cut Costs as Profits Fall",PublishersWeekly,12/16/05; "Weak Results Prompt Closings, Layoffs at Scholastic",PublishersWeekly,3/23/06.

External links[edit]

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