The Oregon Encyclopedia

The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon.

Description

The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, the Oregon Council of Teachers of English, and the Oregon Historical Society. It has drawn support from Oregon Cultural Trust partners Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Council for the Humanities, Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, and the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office.[1]

One of the project's three editors, Bill Lang, a professor of history at Portland State University, said one goal is to produce an online encyclopedia of Oregon's history "deep into the future." Lang also said the Oregon Encyclopedia will be like a traditional encyclopedia based on verified facts, but with "stuff no one knows about. Yet." Lang contrasted the project with Wikipedia, which he suggested was not based on verified facts.[2] All entries are fact-checked, peer-reviewed, and edited by the project's five editors.

History

It was announced on February 14, 2008, Oregon's 149th birthday. The project was initially launched as an online publication, with plans to eventually publish it in book form.[3] The project originally aimed to produce about 3,000 articles.[4] As of June 2020, it had over 1,750 published articles written by over 400 authors from around the state.

The encyclopedia's former development director, Sherry Manning, estimated the cost would be between $1 million and $2 million.[4] A few days before the announcement date, over $175,000 had been raised and another $500,000 was pending.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Oregon Encyclopedia project holds first of Oregon's public meetings in Coos Bay". The Coquille Valley Sentinel. Coquille, Oregon. February 27, 2008. p. 11. Retrieved March 16, 2016 – via Google news.
  2. ^ a b Mark Baker (February 10, 2008). "You could be a part of the state's online encyclopedia". The Register-Guard. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2008. Alt URL
  3. ^ Crombie, Noelle (February 13, 2008). "Historians launch first-ever encyclopedia of Oregon". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Muldoon, Katy (February 14, 2008). "Call it Oregon-pedia". The Oregonian. p. E1. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.