Encyclopedia of Chicago
Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Chicago is an historical reference work
covering Chicago
and the entire Chicago metropolitan area published by the University of Chicago Press
. Released in October 2004, the work is the result of a ten-year collaboration between the Newberry Library
and the Chicago Historical Society. It exists in both a hardcover
print edition and an online format, known as the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. The print edition is 1117 pages and includes 1400 entries, 2000 biographical sketches, 250 significant business enterprise descriptions, and hundreds of maps. Initially, the internet edition included 1766 entries, 1000 more images and sources.
The concept was fueled by other regional encyclopedias that had met with commercial success in 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, the vision to create the book found initial financing from the National Endowment for the Humanities
. The book was well received and became a bestseller
during the 2004 Christmas season following its October 2004 release. The following May the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago was released. Northwestern University
joined the Newberry Library/Chicago Historical Society collaboration for the internet edition. The internet edition was the second of its kind for a U.S. city.
s, graduate assistant
s and author
s. Most contributors were professor
s. About 600 people contributed entries at a rate of $.10/per word. The contributors consulted reliable secondary source
s, such as newspaper
s, to compile historical accounts. The book was edited by James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. At the time, Grossman was the vice president for research and education at the Newberry Library and visiting professor of history at the University of Chicago
. Keating was a professor of history at North Central College
. Reiff was an associate professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles
.
Unlike resource compilation efforts for the cities that inspired this encyclopedia, the work was not bounded by the city limits
. Instead, every suburb was provided an entry, as were each of Chicago's 77 official community areas
. Entries ranged from 50 to 4000 words long. Eventually, the coverage of the subject matter expanded to include Southwest Michigan
and Northwest Indiana
. Newberry Library describes the work as "one of the most significant historical projects undertaken in the last twenty years".
(NEH). Their initial proposal was declined, but after working with Grossman to refine the specifics of their proposal, the NEH accepted their idea. The book venture was originally announced in 1994 as a project funded by a NEH US$200,000 ($ today) grant. The grant also included a $300,000 challenge grant
to be met by Newberry Library for the first three years of work. The original plan was to publish a hardcover book by 2001 and then to follow with what at the time was referred to vaguely as "hypermedia" in reference to possible internet and CD-Rom
auxiliary products. After Grossman and Keating obtained the initial grant, Reiff, a computer technology expert, and encyclopedia veteran Carol J. Summerfield all became part of the team. The editors sought the advice of Chicago-area librarians who were organized into focus groups to determine the proper components for the planned publication. The editors also organized into task forces of experts in dozens of specialized fields. Early on they sought the expertise of University of Chicago
cartographer Michael P. Conzen, who helped develop 56 original maps. Conzen is credited as the cartographic editor.
By 1997, the text had taken shape and the plan was that the average biographical entry would be 150 words. The longest biographical entries, about 450 words, were written for former Chicago Mayors Harold Washington
and Richard J. Daley
. Neither Richard M. Daley
nor Michael Jordan
had entries because only notable deceased persons were included. By 1998, the editors had settled on the table of contents and begun the job of assigning, editing, fact-checking and re-editing the hundreds of entries, some of them as long as 4000 words. By March 2000, 1100 of the targeted 1400 entries were completed. Also, the growth of the internet had clarified the vision of an online version of the print edition. In 2000, the final volume was expected to be 1300 pages set for release in fall 2002. The internet version was expected the following year. By June 2001, nearly 1300 of the entries had been submitted and a third had been edited and reviewed for accuracy. The effort had become a $2.5 million dollar effort and was aspiring towards the success of earlier encyclopedic efforts projecting a fall 2003 publication of a 1.3-million-word 1300-page edition. At this time, the final electronic form available through the Chicago Historical Society had been conceptualized.
(1995) had sold 70,000 (50,000 in its first year). Hardcover versions of these works had sold for $59.95 and up. The commercial success of these other regional encyclopedias made it clear that there is a market for such products. Several university presses released regional encyclopedic publications in 2004. In April, Rutgers University Press
published The Encyclopedia of New Jersey. In September, the University of Nebraska Press
published Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. In October, the University of Chicago Press released The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Additionally, Yale University Press
was scheduled to publish both Encyclopedia of New England and the second edition of The Encyclopedia of New York City.
Using press releases from the Copley News Service, the book was widely publicized throughout the state of Illinois
, and it was even reviewed by The Wall Street Journal
. When first published in 2004, the book was on the USA Today
recommended Christmas gifts list. That year it was at the top of the Chicago area bestseller
lists at bookstores during the Christmas
holiday season. Major funding for the $65 list price four-color print version of the publication, which cost $1.7 million in the end, was provided by the NEH, the MacArthur Foundation
, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.
s, that were not available in the print edition. At the time, it was expected to be released by the Chicago Historical Society in April 2005. On May 11, the Electronic edition, which cost nearly $1 million to create and is continuously available for free to the public, was released. It included hundreds of additional entries (bringing the total to 1766), more than 1000 additional images, video of historic figures and events, and extensive primary source material. The online version includes 1000 more sources than the print edition. The Web site includes many tables and maps that date to the 19th Century. Northwestern University
media specialists developed the Web architecture for the electronic version. The electronic edition made Chicago the second major U.S. city (following Cleveland) with an extensive Internet encyclopedia dedicated to its history and its release was covered by newspapers throughout the Midwest. The extra features of the online edition would have required 10,000 pages to produce in print-edition format. Initially, the online edition was a static version, but updates and adjustments were planned.
. Chicago Tribune
journalist Rick Kogan describes this as a massive undertaking with the natural foibles of the human element in it selections and accuracy, and by nature of its attempt to serve as a historical compilation an immediately dated product due to the dynamic nature of the city. However, he feels it is sure to amaze its audience. A Chicago Sun-Times
reviewer describes it as a scholarly product that is "easily the most comprehensive reference book on the Chicago region ever published". The State Journal-Register, the newspaper, reviewers complain that downstate cities and regions are neglected in the book. A Daily Herald review describes it as a book accurately "billed as the city's most definitive historical reference book". The Peoria Journal Star
notes that although there are complaints about omissions and underserved topics, the online version should quell the demands for further knowledge.
The online version was noted for its "large number of tables and maps that date to the 19th Century" by the Chicago Tribune
. 's Telegraph Herald
newspaper and Indiana
's Post-Tribune
referenced an Associated Press
press release that described the online version as a compilation assembled with "with more than Chicagoans in mind". The Chicago Tribune described the online version as an extension of "the most comprehensive reference book on the Chicago region ever published" that is unlimited by physical bounds.
Journal of American History
along with the website History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web published a review by University of Southern California
professor Philip J. Ethington that spoke glowingly about both versions of the encyclopedia describing it as "one of the finest collective works (with 633 listed authors) of North American historical scholarship of our era". They praised it for its breadth and coherence. The online version was noted for its meticulous hyperlink
ing. The online review was cursory in the sense that it did not realize the expansion of the online version. However, the review notes that the online version provides "powerful and substantive" interactive resources that are not possible in the print edition. The review is especially respectful of the cartographic contributions, which it describes in detail. It dismisses the alphabetical structure of the online version as an unnecessary complication. The review also complains about biographical omissions that necessitate extensive navigation to related articles. The review felt some of the online foibles left open the possibility that the production might get overshadowed by future ventures that leverage the electronic possibilities more fully.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
reviewed the Encyclopedia along with several of its peers and mentioned early in the review that the advent of online encyclopedias makes the works much easier to correct and update. However, the availability of online encyclopedias diminished the significance of the print editions according to the review because it made gifting them less significant and it reduced sales at libraries. The review also noted that the online approach is becoming so successful that the state of Georgia
has produced the online-only New Georgia Encyclopedia
, which started as a 300-article venture and has blossomed to a 1300-article work. However, they noted that when the Encyclopedia of Chicago was first released that the local media supported the book; some Chicago disc jockey
s read passages from it on air. Its enjoyed successful marketing as both a popular gift item and a must-have for local historians.
that traces the history of Chicago from 1630 to 2000.
The 1400-entry main alphabetical section of the Encyclopedia covers all Chicago neighborhoods, suburbs, and ethnic groups as well as the major cultural institutions. Topics covered include technology and science, architecture, religions, immigration, transportation, business history, labor, music, health and medicine. It is considered the most geographical diverse city encyclopedia of its kind because it fully encompasses the suburb
s in eight of the region's counties. 386 thumbnail maps of neighborhoods and municipalities are complemented by 400 black-and-white photographs plus hundreds of color photographs and thematic maps. There are separate lengthy interpretive essays woven into the alphabetical section on topics such as the built environment, literary images of Chicago, and the city's sports culture. The Encyclopedia includes a 2000-entry comprehensive biographical dictionary and a detailed listing of approximately 250 of the city's historically significant business enterprises. A color insert features a timeline of Chicago history and photo essays exploring nine pivotal years in this history. The photo essays feature the city’s urban art and artifacts.
Reference work
A reference work is a compendium of information, usually of a specific type, compiled in a book for ease of reference. That is, the information is intended to be quickly found when needed. Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end...
covering Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and the entire Chicago metropolitan area published by the University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
. Released in October 2004, the work is the result of a ten-year collaboration between the Newberry Library
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
and the Chicago Historical Society. It exists in both a hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
print edition and an online format, known as the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. The print edition is 1117 pages and includes 1400 entries, 2000 biographical sketches, 250 significant business enterprise descriptions, and hundreds of maps. Initially, the internet edition included 1766 entries, 1000 more images and sources.
The concept was fueled by other regional encyclopedias that had met with commercial success in 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, the vision to create the book found initial financing from the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
. The book was well received and became a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
during the 2004 Christmas season following its October 2004 release. The following May the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago was released. Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
joined the Newberry Library/Chicago Historical Society collaboration for the internet edition. The internet edition was the second of its kind for a U.S. city.
Details
Individual entries were compiled by historianHistorian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s, graduate assistant
Graduate assistant
A graduate assistant is a position who serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The individual typically assists professors or with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants, coaches with an athletic team, or university department...
s and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
s. Most contributors were professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s. About 600 people contributed entries at a rate of $.10/per word. The contributors consulted reliable secondary source
Secondary source
In scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. A secondary source contrasts with a primary source, which is an original source of the information being discussed; a primary source can be a person with direct...
s, such as newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, to compile historical accounts. The book was edited by James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. At the time, Grossman was the vice president for research and education at the Newberry Library and visiting professor of history at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Keating was a professor of history at North Central College
North Central College
North Central College is a leading liberal arts college providing students at different stages of life and from different ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds with comprehensive educational programs.-Academics:...
. Reiff was an associate professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
Unlike resource compilation efforts for the cities that inspired this encyclopedia, the work was not bounded by the city limits
City limits
The terms city limits and city boundary refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limits is sometimes called the city proper. The terms town limits/boundary and village limits/boundary mean the same as city limits/boundary, but apply to towns and villages...
. Instead, every suburb was provided an entry, as were each of Chicago's 77 official community areas
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
. Entries ranged from 50 to 4000 words long. Eventually, the coverage of the subject matter expanded to include Southwest Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana, also known as the South Shore and The Calumet Region or simply The Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
. Newberry Library describes the work as "one of the most significant historical projects undertaken in the last twenty years".
History
Inspired by encyclopedia compilation efforts of cities such as New York City, Indianapolis and Cleveland, Keating approached the Newberry Library in 1991 to strategize on how to best to study and teach Chicago history. Eventually she and Grossman agreed to prepare a funding request from the National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
(NEH). Their initial proposal was declined, but after working with Grossman to refine the specifics of their proposal, the NEH accepted their idea. The book venture was originally announced in 1994 as a project funded by a NEH US$200,000 ($ today) grant. The grant also included a $300,000 challenge grant
Challenge grant
Challenge grants are funds dispersed by one party , usually a Government Agency, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, typically to a non-profit entity or educational institution upon completion of the challenge requirement...
to be met by Newberry Library for the first three years of work. The original plan was to publish a hardcover book by 2001 and then to follow with what at the time was referred to vaguely as "hypermedia" in reference to possible internet and CD-Rom
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
auxiliary products. After Grossman and Keating obtained the initial grant, Reiff, a computer technology expert, and encyclopedia veteran Carol J. Summerfield all became part of the team. The editors sought the advice of Chicago-area librarians who were organized into focus groups to determine the proper components for the planned publication. The editors also organized into task forces of experts in dozens of specialized fields. Early on they sought the expertise of University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
cartographer Michael P. Conzen, who helped develop 56 original maps. Conzen is credited as the cartographic editor.
By 1997, the text had taken shape and the plan was that the average biographical entry would be 150 words. The longest biographical entries, about 450 words, were written for former Chicago Mayors Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
and Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
. Neither Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
nor Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
had entries because only notable deceased persons were included. By 1998, the editors had settled on the table of contents and begun the job of assigning, editing, fact-checking and re-editing the hundreds of entries, some of them as long as 4000 words. By March 2000, 1100 of the targeted 1400 entries were completed. Also, the growth of the internet had clarified the vision of an online version of the print edition. In 2000, the final volume was expected to be 1300 pages set for release in fall 2002. The internet version was expected the following year. By June 2001, nearly 1300 of the entries had been submitted and a third had been edited and reviewed for accuracy. The effort had become a $2.5 million dollar effort and was aspiring towards the success of earlier encyclopedic efforts projecting a fall 2003 publication of a 1.3-million-word 1300-page edition. At this time, the final electronic form available through the Chicago Historical Society had been conceptualized.
Public release
By 2001, two editions of The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987) had sold 24,000 copies; The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (1994) had sold 9000 copies and The Encyclopedia of New York CityThe Encyclopedia of New York City
The Encyclopedia of New York City is a comprehensive reference book on New York City. Historian and Columbia University professor Kenneth T...
(1995) had sold 70,000 (50,000 in its first year). Hardcover versions of these works had sold for $59.95 and up. The commercial success of these other regional encyclopedias made it clear that there is a market for such products. Several university presses released regional encyclopedic publications in 2004. In April, Rutgers University Press
Rutgers University Press
Rutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in Piscataway, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.-History:...
published The Encyclopedia of New Jersey. In September, the University of Nebraska Press
University of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
published Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. In October, the University of Chicago Press released The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Additionally, Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
was scheduled to publish both Encyclopedia of New England and the second edition of The Encyclopedia of New York City.
Using press releases from the Copley News Service, the book was widely publicized throughout the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and it was even reviewed by The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. When first published in 2004, the book was on the USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
recommended Christmas gifts list. That year it was at the top of the Chicago area bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
lists at bookstores during the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
holiday season. Major funding for the $65 list price four-color print version of the publication, which cost $1.7 million in the end, was provided by the NEH, the MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.
Electronic edition
At the time of the print release, the online version, known as the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, was being developed to include additional features, which relied on hyperlinkHyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
s, that were not available in the print edition. At the time, it was expected to be released by the Chicago Historical Society in April 2005. On May 11, the Electronic edition, which cost nearly $1 million to create and is continuously available for free to the public, was released. It included hundreds of additional entries (bringing the total to 1766), more than 1000 additional images, video of historic figures and events, and extensive primary source material. The online version includes 1000 more sources than the print edition. The Web site includes many tables and maps that date to the 19th Century. Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
media specialists developed the Web architecture for the electronic version. The electronic edition made Chicago the second major U.S. city (following Cleveland) with an extensive Internet encyclopedia dedicated to its history and its release was covered by newspapers throughout the Midwest. The extra features of the online edition would have required 10,000 pages to produce in print-edition format. Initially, the online edition was a static version, but updates and adjustments were planned.
Critical review
USA Today referred to it as a good coffee table bookCoffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
. Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
journalist Rick Kogan describes this as a massive undertaking with the natural foibles of the human element in it selections and accuracy, and by nature of its attempt to serve as a historical compilation an immediately dated product due to the dynamic nature of the city. However, he feels it is sure to amaze its audience. A Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
reviewer describes it as a scholarly product that is "easily the most comprehensive reference book on the Chicago region ever published". The State Journal-Register, the newspaper, reviewers complain that downstate cities and regions are neglected in the book. A Daily Herald review describes it as a book accurately "billed as the city's most definitive historical reference book". The Peoria Journal Star
Peoria Journal Star
The Journal Star is the major daily newspaper for Peoria, Illinois and surrounding area. First owned locally, then employee-owned, it became a Copley-owned entity in 1996. In 2007, the paper was sold to Fairport, New York-based GateHouse Media.-History:...
notes that although there are complaints about omissions and underserved topics, the online version should quell the demands for further knowledge.
The online version was noted for its "large number of tables and maps that date to the 19th Century" by the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. 's Telegraph Herald
Telegraph Herald
The Telegraph Herald, locally referred to as the TH, is a daily newspaper published in Dubuque, Iowa for the population of Dubuque and surrounding areas in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin...
newspaper and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
's Post-Tribune
Post-Tribune
The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana is a daily newspaper headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, United States. It serves the Northwest Indiana region, and is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:...
referenced an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
press release that described the online version as a compilation assembled with "with more than Chicagoans in mind". The Chicago Tribune described the online version as an extension of "the most comprehensive reference book on the Chicago region ever published" that is unlimited by physical bounds.
Journal of American History
Journal of American History
The Journal of American History is the official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, the official journal of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association...
along with the website History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web published a review by University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
professor Philip J. Ethington that spoke glowingly about both versions of the encyclopedia describing it as "one of the finest collective works (with 633 listed authors) of North American historical scholarship of our era". They praised it for its breadth and coherence. The online version was noted for its meticulous hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
ing. The online review was cursory in the sense that it did not realize the expansion of the online version. However, the review notes that the online version provides "powerful and substantive" interactive resources that are not possible in the print edition. The review is especially respectful of the cartographic contributions, which it describes in detail. It dismisses the alphabetical structure of the online version as an unnecessary complication. The review also complains about biographical omissions that necessitate extensive navigation to related articles. The review felt some of the online foibles left open the possibility that the production might get overshadowed by future ventures that leverage the electronic possibilities more fully.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
reviewed the Encyclopedia along with several of its peers and mentioned early in the review that the advent of online encyclopedias makes the works much easier to correct and update. However, the availability of online encyclopedias diminished the significance of the print editions according to the review because it made gifting them less significant and it reduced sales at libraries. The review also noted that the online approach is becoming so successful that the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
has produced the online-only New Georgia Encyclopedia
New Georgia Encyclopedia
The New Georgia Encyclopedia is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia.The Georgia Humanities Council, the Office of the Governor of Georgia, the University of Georgia Press, and the University System of Georgia/GALILEO have collaborated in the funding...
, which started as a 300-article venture and has blossomed to a 1300-article work. However, they noted that when the Encyclopedia of Chicago was first released that the local media supported the book; some Chicago disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s read passages from it on air. Its enjoyed successful marketing as both a popular gift item and a must-have for local historians.
Content
The encyclopedia is composed of 1117 pages that feature over 1400 entries by more than 600 contributors. Additionally, it includes 442 maps, more than 400 vintage photographs, over 250 sketches of "historically significant business enterprises", a dictionary of Chicago-area businesses, a biographical dictionary and a 21-page timelineTimeline
A timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
that traces the history of Chicago from 1630 to 2000.
The 1400-entry main alphabetical section of the Encyclopedia covers all Chicago neighborhoods, suburbs, and ethnic groups as well as the major cultural institutions. Topics covered include technology and science, architecture, religions, immigration, transportation, business history, labor, music, health and medicine. It is considered the most geographical diverse city encyclopedia of its kind because it fully encompasses the suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s in eight of the region's counties. 386 thumbnail maps of neighborhoods and municipalities are complemented by 400 black-and-white photographs plus hundreds of color photographs and thematic maps. There are separate lengthy interpretive essays woven into the alphabetical section on topics such as the built environment, literary images of Chicago, and the city's sports culture. The Encyclopedia includes a 2000-entry comprehensive biographical dictionary and a detailed listing of approximately 250 of the city's historically significant business enterprises. A color insert features a timeline of Chicago history and photo essays exploring nine pivotal years in this history. The photo essays feature the city’s urban art and artifacts.
External links
- Online edition
- Encyclopedia of Chicago at Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
- Encyclopedia of Chicago tutorial at Chicago History Museum