 | |
| Author | Francis Lieber (1800–1872) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | General |
| Published | 1829–2018 |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Media type | 1 |
TheEncyclopedia Americana was 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 Encyclopedia andEncyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana became 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 ofGrolier in 2000, Scholastic took over production; in 2018, the Encyclopedia Americana was merged into the Scholastic GO! database.[3]
Theencyclopedia has 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).Americana is international in scope and is known for its detailed coverage of American andCanadian geography and history.[1]Americana is also known for its strong coverage of biographies, as well as scientific and technical subjects.[1] Written by 6,500 contributors, theEncyclopedia Americana includes 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 beingscholars pre-eminent in their field.[1]
Long available as a 30-volume print set, theEncyclopedia Americana is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008,Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition.[4] The company's final print edition was released in 2006.[1]
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.[5][circular reference][6][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 JusticeJoseph 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 Americana was published byJ.M. Stoddart between 1883 and 1889, as a supplement to American reprintings of the 9th edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica. It was fourquarto volumes meant to "extend and complete the articles inBritannica".[7] Stoddart's work, however, is not connected to the earlier work by Lieber.[8]
In 1902, a new, 16-volumeEncyclopedia Americana was published under the editorial supervision ofScientific American magazine. 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 Rines was appointed managing editor in 1903.[9] Between 1903 and 1906 the publisher wasR.S. Peale & Co. From 1906 through 1936,Encyclopedia Americana was published by the Americana Corporation, with the editorial support ofScientific American. The relationship withScientific American was terminated in 1911.[10] 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.[9][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.[11] By the late1960s, Grolier's annual sales ofEncyclopediaAmericana and its sister publications underGrolier—The Book of Knowledge, theAmerican Peoples Encyclopedia, theBook of Popular Science, andLands and Peoples were over $181 million,[12] and the company held a 30 percent market share as the leading publisher of encyclopedias in the United States.[13] Grolier's corporate headquarters were in a large building (variously named the Americana Building and the Grolier Building) in MidtownManhattan, at 575Lexington Avenue. Sales during this period were accomplished primarily throughmail-order anddoor-to-door operations.Telemarketing and third-party distribution ofEncyclopedia Americana through Grolier's Lexicon Publications subsidiary added to sales volumes in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, Grolier had moved its operations toDanbury, Connecticut.
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 byScholastic for 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.[14] Following the acquisition,Americana became 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.[15] All of those resources formed Grolier Online (now called Scholastic GO!). 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.[16]
In 2004, Scholastic stated thatAmericana's 2,500 online articles are being revised annually.[1] Today,Americana lives on as an integral database within the Scholastic GO! product.[15]
