''Tennessee Encyclopedia'' is a

reference book A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

on the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

that was published in book form in 1998 and has also been available online since 2002. Contents include

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

, culture, and

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

History

The original print edition was developed as a

Tennessee Historical Society The Tennessee Historical Society is a historical society for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was established in 1849. Its founding president from 1849 to 1856 was Nathaniel Cross, a Princeton University, Princeton-educated professor of Ancient Lang ...

educational project for the Tennessee state

bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

in 1996. The idea of the encyclopedia was proposed in 1993 and work began the following year. The

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

provided project funding in

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

s 1995 through 1998. Additional funding came from several foundations;

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

provided some in-kind support.Foreword
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' website, accessed April 23, 2011 When the book was completed in 1998, it became the third state

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 ...

to be published in the United States. The print edition ( and ) has 1193 pages containing 1,534 entries contributed by 514 authors. It was a co-winner of a Tennessee History Book Award and was recognized with a 1999 American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Award of Merit. An online edition of the encyclopedia has been on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

since 2002. It includes the contents of the book plus some new entries and some

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

content. The online edition is jointly produced and maintained by the Tennessee Historical Society and the

University of Tennessee Press The University of Tennessee Press is a university press associated with the University of Tennessee. UT Press was established in 1940 by the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees. The University of Tennessee Press issues about 35 books each ...

. Access to the full contents is free. The online interface was revised and updated in February 2011.UT Press Helps Produce Updated Online Tennessee Encyclopedia

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

press release, March 9, 2011 Editor for both the print and online versions is Carroll Van West, a Middle Tennessee State University history professor who is director of that university's Center for Historic Preservation.Carroll Van West
MTSU Center for Historic Preservation website, accessed April 23, 2011

Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

to the contents of both the print and online versions is held by the Tennessee Historical Society.Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
, Tennessee Historical Society website, accessed April 23, 2011

References

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External links

*
The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
' (online edition) 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias American online encyclopedias University of Tennessee Press books Encyclopedias of U.S. states History of Tennessee Tennessee culture Books about Tennessee