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 First edition, print (1985) | |
| Editor in chief |
|
|---|---|
| Managing editor | Eli Yarhi |
| Categories | Canadian history andCanadiana |
| Format |
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| Publisher |
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| Company | Historica Canada |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English and French |
| Website | |
The Canadian Encyclopedia (TCE;French:L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the nationalencyclopedia ofCanada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organizationHistorica Canada, with financial support by the federalDepartment of Canadian Heritage andSociety of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. Compiled by more than 5,000 scholars and specialists, the publication is a non-partisan, non-political initiative by a not-for-profit organization without political or governmental ties.[1]
First published in 1985, the consistently updated version has been available for free online in bothEnglish andFrench since 2001.[2][3] The physical copy and website includes "articles on Canadian biographies and places, history, the Arts, as well as First Nations, science and Canadian innovation."[4] As of 2013[update], over 700,000 volumes of the print version ofTCE have been sold and over 6 million people visitTCE's website yearly.[5][6]
The encyclopedia website consists of more than 25,000 entries and over 60,000 multimedia items including images, maps, charts, games, assessments, and videos.[7] The website incorporates,The Youth Encyclopedia of Canada,The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, specialized articles on diverse subjects, articles fromMacLean's Magazine, and The Timeline of Canadian History. The website likewise provides an educational hub for educators and guardians, which includes instructional materials, assessments, and specialized study aids.[7] It has received positive reviews and praise for its creation.[8][9][10]
While attempts had been made to compile encyclopedic material on aspects of Canada,Canada: An Encyclopaedia of the Country (1898–1900), edited by J. Castell Hopkins, was the first attempt to produce an encyclopedic work entirely on the subject of Canada. This was followed byW. Stewart Wallace'sThe Encyclopedia of Canada (Macmillan, 1935–37), which was then sold to an American publisher, theGrolier Society, providing the core ofJohn Everett Robbins'Encyclopedia Canadiana (1957).[11]
More common, however, were encyclopedic works focused on particular qualities of Canada. For instance, in 1911,Arthur Doughty and L.J. Burpee compiled theIndex and Dictionary of Canadian History as a companion to theMakers of Canada series; Doughty andAdam Shortt edited the 23-volumeCanada and Its Provinces (1913–17);Norah Story'sThe Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature was published in 1967; the comprehensiveEncyclopedia of Music in Canada was published in 1981 and revised in 1992; and a newOxford Companion to Canadian Literature, edited byWilliam Toye, was published in 1983.[11]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 " The origins of The Canadian Encyclopedia" – The Canadian Encyclopedia- YouTube (8:56min) |
By the 1970s, Canada had been without a nationalencyclopedia since Robbins' 1957 work, which by that time was terribly outdated.
With this in mind, Edmonton-basedCanadian nationalist and publisherMel Hurtig was left unimpressed with the lack of Canadian reference works as well as with the various omissions and blatant errors (e.g.,Brian Mulroney was described as aLiberal rather thanConservative) found in existing encyclopedias with Canadian entries. In response, Hurtig launched a project in the 1970s to create a wholly new Canadian encyclopedia.[11]
In 1978, around the province of Alberta's 75th anniversary, Hurtig approached theAlberta government with the idea of supporting Hurtig's idea of an encyclopedia as Alberta's "gift to Canada", which gained the support ofAlberta PremierPeter Lougheed. On 15 November 1979, theAlberta Legislature announced that the provincial government wouldunderwrite the development costs of the encyclopedia with CA$3.4 million and would donate a further $600,000 towards the delivery of a free copy to every school and library in Canada. (This was done on the condition that no other funding would be able to obscure the gesture of the Alberta Government.)[11]
Taking on this publishing 'megaproject', Hurtig would spend the next few years raising funds from banks for printing and marketing. The concern of a French-language edition was put aside with a guarantee by Hurtig that the rights would be donated free to a publisher in Quebec.[11]
Hurtig held a nationwide search for an editor-in-chief, including with an advertisement in theGlobe and Mail. Soon after,James Harley Marsh was hired as editor-in-chief in 1980.[11] Marsh recruited more than 3,000 authors to write for the encyclopedia. They made index cards for every fact in the encyclopedia, signed off by the researcher, utilized three sources, and had every article read by three outside readers. Then, the entire encyclopedia was proofread by an independent source.[12] Over 3,000 people contributed to the content and accuracy of the encyclopedia's entries.[13]
By May 1984, Hurtig Publishers had received over 105,000 in pre-sale orders for the first edition ofThe Canadian Encyclopedia,[11] which was finally published in 1985 (ISBN 0-88830-269-X). Carrying nearly 3 million words within three separate volumes, it featured over 2,500 contributors and included more than 9,000 articles.[3] Costing $125 per set, this first edition sold out within days of publication and became a Canadian bestseller; nearly 150,000 sets sold in six months.[13]
Two years later,Alain Stanké of Montreal published the first French edition of the encyclopedia,Encyclopédie canadienne, in three volumes.[11][14]
A revised and expanded edition ofTCE was released in 1988 (ISBN 0-88830-326-2), selling out just as the first. This edition would add a fourth volume and around 500,000 new words.[11] Encoded in amarkup language precursor ofHTML, this edition would be the first encyclopedia in the world to use a computer to help compile, typeset, design, and print it.[12] These additions received positive reviews and praise for their creation.[8][9][10]
In September 1990, Hurtig publishedTheJunior Encyclopedia of Canada (ISBN 0-88830-334-3), illustrated with over 3000 photos, drawings, and maps.[3] This five-volume encyclopedia was funded by the federalDepartment of Communications and a grant from the CRB Foundation of Montreal.[11] It would be the first encyclopedia for young Canadians.[3]
In May 1991, Hurtig sold his publishing company toMcClelland & Stewart (M&S), and the encyclopedia along with it.[15] Soon, a vice president at M&S would be the first to usher in the first real electronic version of the encyclopedia in 1995:The Canadian Encyclopedia Plus, published as a digitalCD-ROM (ISBN 0-7710-2041-4), with searching capability,hot links to related articles, and multimedia.[11][13] This digital format would also eventually incorporate theGage Canadian Dictionary andRoget's Thesaurus with the text ofTCE, as well as incorporating theColumbia Encyclopedia.[11]
The first edition of the encyclopedia on CD-ROM was released in 1993; the second, in 1995.[16]
The 1998–99Canadian Encyclopedia on CD-ROM came in three separate versions:
The Canadian Encyclopedia was able to become fully bilingual through a grant fromHeritage Canada, which helped to complete the project of translating the over-4-million pieces of text into French. By 2000, the electronic encyclopedia included a fourth version: "National".[11]
In 1999, McClelland & Stewart published the year-2000 edition, incorporating all four previous volumes in a single book (ISBN 0-77102-099-6), followed by Stanké's French edition the next year. Also in 1999,Avie Bennett, the Chair of McClelland & Stewart, transferred the ownership of the encyclopedia to theHistorica Foundation.[13] Later that year, the Historica Foundation made a full version ofThe Canadian Encyclopedia available online.[13]
Launching in Edmonton in October 2001, the real online version ofTCE was programmed byNetCentrics in Edmonton and its interface designed by 7th Floor Media in Vancouver.[11] In 2002/2003, an online version of theEncyclopedia of Music in Canada, including around 3,000 articles and 500 illustrations, was incorporated intoTCE.[3]
On March 31, 2013, Marsh stepped down as editor-in-chief ofTCE in retirement.[5][6]
The enhanced interactive format thatTCE currently uses online was first released in October 2013.[3] Today,The Canadian Encyclopedia is available entirely online.[17] TheTCE's current editor-in-chief is Bronwyn Graves.[18]
As the President and CEO ofHistorica Canada since 2012, Anthony Wilson-Smith is also the publisher of the encyclopedia. As of 2021, the encyclopedia has over 5,000 scholars and specialists that contribute.[3][19]
TCE is funded bySOCAN as well as the federalDepartment of Canadian Heritage. Its partners include theCanadian Children's Book Centre, Musée des grands Québécois, theRobert McLaughlin Gallery, andMaclean's.[3]
TCE claims to be "non-partisan and apolitical" and that they are "not affiliated with any government or political party".[20]
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