''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization
Historica Canada
Historica Canada is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the country's history and citizenship. All of its programs are offered bilingually and reach more than 28 million Canadians annually.
A registered national charitabl ...
, with financial support by the federal
Department of Canadian Heritage and
Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...
. 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.
First published in 1985, the consistently updated version has been available for free online in both
English and
French since 2001.
The physical copy and website includes "articles on Canadian biographies and places, history, the Arts, as well as First Nations, science and Canadian innovation."
, over 700,000 volumes of the print version of ''TCE'' have been sold and over 6 million people visit ''TCE''
's website yearly.
The encyclopedia website consists of more than 25,000 entries and over 60,000 multimedia items including images, maps, charts, games, assessments, and videos.
The website incorporates, ''The Youth Encyclopedia of Canada'', ''The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada'', specialized articles on diverse subjects, articles from
MacLean'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.
It has received positive reviews and praise for its creation.
History
Background
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 by
W. Stewart Wallace's ''The Encyclopedia of Canada'' (Macmillan, 1935–37), which was then sold to an American publisher, the
Grolier Society, providing the core of
John Everett Robbins' ''
Encyclopedia Canadiana'' (1957).
More common, however, were encyclopedic works focused on particular qualities of Canada. For instance, in 1911,
Arthur Doughty and L.J. Burpee compiled the ''Index and Dictionary of Canadian History'' as a companion to the ''Makers of Canada'' series; Doughty and
Adam Shortt edited the 23-volume ''Canada and Its Provinces'' (1913–17);
Norah Story's ''The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature'' was published in 1967; the comprehensive ''Encyclopedia of Music in Canada'' was published in 1981 and revised in 1992; and a new ''Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature'', edited by
William Toye, was published in 1983.
Creating ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''
By the 1970s, Canada had been without a national
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
since Robbins' 1957 work, which by that time was terribly outdated.
With this in mind, Edmonton-based
Canadian nationalist and publisher
Mel 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
Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...
was described as a
Liberal rather than
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
) found in existing encyclopedias with Canadian entries. In response, Hurtig launched a project in the 1970s to create a wholly new Canadian encyclopedia.
In 1978, around the province of Alberta's 75th anniversary, Hurtig approached the
Alberta government with the idea of supporting Hurtig's idea of an encyclopedia as Alberta's "gift to Canada", which gained the support of
Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed. On 15 November 1979, the
Alberta Legislature
The Alberta Legislature is the unicameral legislature of the province of Alberta, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor of Alberta, lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada),. and the Legislative A ...
announced that the provincial government would
underwrite 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.)
Taking on this publishing '
megaproject
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale construction and investment project.
A more general definition is "Megaprojects are temporary endeavours (i.e. projects) characterised by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in org ...
', 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.
Hurtig held a nationwide search for an editor-in-chief, including with an advertisement in the ''
Globe and Mail''. Soon after,
James Harley Marsh
James Harley Marsh, Order of Canada, CM (born September 10, 1943) is a Canadian editor, writer and encyclopedist.
Marsh found his métier in a summer job with educational publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston, learning all aspects of the busin ...
was hired as editor-in-chief in 1980.
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.
Over 3,000 people contributed to the content and accuracy of the encyclopedia's entries.
First editions
By May 1984, Hurtig Publishers had received over 105,000 in pre-sale orders for the first edition of ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'',
which was finally published in 1985 (). Carrying nearly 3 million words within three separate volumes, it featured over 2,500 contributors and included more than 9,000 articles.
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.
Two years later,
Alain Stanké of Montreal published the first French edition of the encyclopedia, ''Encyclopédie canadienne'', in three volumes.
A revised and expanded edition of ''TCE'' was released in 1988 (), selling out just as the first. This edition would add a fourth volume and around 500,000 new words.
Encoded in a
markup language
A markup language is a Encoding, text-encoding system which specifies the structure and formatting of a document and potentially the relationships among its parts. Markup can control the display of a document or enrich its content to facilitate au ...
precursor of
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...
, this edition would be the first encyclopedia in the world to use a computer to help compile, typeset, design, and print it.
These additions received positive reviews and praise for their creation.
1990s
In September 1990, Hurtig published ''The'' ''Junior Encyclopedia of Canada'' (), illustrated with over 3000 photos, drawings, and maps.
This five-volume encyclopedia was funded by the federal
Department of Communications and a grant from the CRB Foundation of Montreal.
It would be the first encyclopedia for young Canadians.
In May 1991, Hurtig sold his publishing company to
McClelland & Stewart (M&S), and the encyclopedia along with it.
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 digital
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
(), with searching capability,
hot links to related articles, and multimedia.
This digital format would also eventually incorporate the ''
Gage Canadian Dictionary'' and ''
Roget's Thesaurus
''Roget's Thesaurus'' is a widely used English-language thesaurus, created in 1805 by Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer.
History
It was released to the public on 29 April 1852. Roget was ...
'' with the text of ''TCE'', as well as incorporating the ''
Columbia Encyclopedia
The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University
Columbi ...
''.
The first edition of the encyclopedia on CD-ROM was released in 1993; the second, in 1995.
The 1998–99 ''Canadian Encyclopedia on CD-ROM'' came in three separate versions:
# an updated World Edition with a new interactive quiz called ''Canucklehead''
# a new Student Edition with the updated and revised text of the ''Junior Encyclopedia of Canada''
# a Deluxe version, which included all the material on “World” and 5 additional disks
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' was able to become fully bilingual through a grant from
Heritage 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".
In 1999, McClelland & Stewart published the year-2000 edition, incorporating all four previous volumes in a single book (), 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 the
Historica Foundation.
Later that year, the Historica Foundation made a full version of ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' available online.
Online
Launching in Edmonton in October 2001, the real online version of ''TCE'' was programmed by
NetCentrics in Edmonton and its interface designed by 7th Floor Media in Vancouver.
In 2002/2003, an online version of the ''Encyclopedia of Music in Canada'', including around 3,000 articles and 500 illustrations, was incorporated into ''TCE''.
On March 31, 2013, Marsh stepped down as editor-in-chief of ''TCE'' in retirement.
The enhanced interactive format that ''TCE'' currently uses online was first released in October 2013.
Today, ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' is available entirely online. The ''TCE''
's current editor-in-chief is Bronwyn Graves.
Organization
As the President and CEO of
Historica Canada
Historica Canada is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the country's history and citizenship. All of its programs are offered bilingually and reach more than 28 million Canadians annually.
A registered national charitabl ...
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.
''TCE'' is funded by
SOCAN as well as the federal
Department of Canadian Heritage. Its partners include the
Canadian Children's Book Centre, Musée des grands Québécois, the
Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and
Maclean's
''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...
.
''TCE'' claims to be "non-partisan and apolitical" and that they are "not affiliated with any government or political party".
Digitized copies
* - '
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3
*
*
See also
*
Bivouac Mountain Encyclopedia
*
Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
*
Bibliography of Canada
*
Encyclopedia of Canadian Biography
*
Encyclopaedia Metallum
Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres ...
*
PlanetMath
PlanetMath is a free content, free, collaborative, mathematics online encyclopedia. Intended to be comprehensive, the project is currently hosted by the University of Waterloo. The site is owned by a US-based nonprofit corporation, "PlanetMath.org ...
*
List of online encyclopedias
This is a list of well-known online encyclopedias that are accessible or formerly accessible on the Internet.
The largest online encyclopedias are general reference works, though there are also many specialized ones. Some online encyclopedias ar ...
;National historic significance
*
Events of National Historic Significance
The Events of National Historic Significance, also called National Historic Events (), are events that have been designated by Canada's government, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board to the Minister of Environment an ...
*
National Historic Sites of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...
*
Persons of National Historic Significance
Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) () are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on t ...
References
External links
Official website
Site officiel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Encyclopedia
1985 non-fiction books
1988 non-fiction books
20th-century encyclopedias
21st-century encyclopedias
Canadian online encyclopedias
English-language encyclopedias
Encyclopedias in French
Multilingual websites
Encyclopedias about countries
Historica Canada