''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'' is a home and school

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

first published in 1922 as ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia''. The word "Pictured" was removed from the title with the 1968 edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, 1988. The encyclopedia is now advertised as ''Compton's by Britannica''.

History

The set was originally published in 1922 in 8 volumes as ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia'' by F. E. Compton and Company of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It was titled "Pictured" because no other encyclopedia at the time had as large or as diverse a collection of illustrations. The encyclopedia was expanded to 10 volumes in 1924 and 15 in 1932. In 1940 the title was expanded to ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia and Fact Index'' to emphasize its "Fact-Index" feature which combined a general index with dictionary type entries and tables. The general editor from 1922 to 1961 was Guy Stanton Ford. He was succeeded by Charles Alfred Ford, and then Donald Lawson in 1964. In the early 1960s, F. E. Compton Co. was purchased by

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is a British-American company known for publishing the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the world's oldest continuously published encyclopaedia, as well as extensive digital efforts—including text and audiovisual— ...

In 1968 the title was changed to simply ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' and expanded to 24 volumes. It expanded to 26 volumes in 1974. The 1985 edition had 26 volumes, 11,000 pages, 10,000 articles, and 8.5 million words. There were 35,500

cross-references The term cross-reference (abbreviation: xref) can refer to either: * An instance within a document which refers to related information elsewhere in the same document. In both printed and online dictionaries cross-references are important because ...

and an index with 150,000 entries, including 30,000 dictionary style fact entries. There were 20,500 illustrations, about 20% in color and 2,000 maps. Articles averaged 850 words, or more than a full page. Most of the main articles were not signed and none of the fact entries were. 600 editors, advisors, artists and contributors were listed at the front of Vol. 1. Potentially difficult technical terms were

italicized In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed tex ...

and defined in context, and articles used a "pyramid structure", beginning in simple, elementary terms and gradually becoming more complex and detailed. Despite being continuously revised, by the late 1970s it was being criticized for being out of date, particularly with regard to its illustrations. However, in the early 1980s the publishers began a thorough revision under Michael Reed and the contents were brought more up to date. This included a more egalitarian approach to women's roles in society and revisions of articles such as

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

. Controversial issues like abortion were handled carefully, giving both sides of the argument, while other issues such as

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

and

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

were not mentioned at all. The 1993 print edition of ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' had 26 volumes, 9 million words, 10,590 pages, 5,250 articles, 28,750 Fact Index definitions, 450 bibliographies, 22,510 illustrations and maps, 35,500 cross references and 154,000 index entries. Only 1,100 articles were signed, but a list of nearly 600 contributors, advisors and editorial staff were listed at the front of Vol. 1. By this time Britannica had invested $13.5 million in revamping the encyclopedia, now under the direction of Dale Good, who became general editor in 1986. It had risen again in the eyes of encyclopedia critics and was considered a first-rate example of an encyclopedia in its class. Controversial issues such as

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, abortion, adoption,

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, drunk driving,

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

, homosexuality,

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

missing children A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, d ...

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

sexually-transmitted disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, were given greater coverage. Illustrations were brought up to date and were 65% in color. The pyramid style article format was retained, but italicization of potentially unfamiliar words was dropped for esthetic purposes, though potentially difficult words such as

palaeographic Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...

and

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

were still defined in context. Major articles such as

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

had glossaries for technical terms. After 1992 the "Fact-Index" was moved to volume 26 - it had previously been divided between each volume. Subjects that were considered too trendy, ephemeral or minor, that did not have articles in the main text, but did have "Fact-Index" definitions included

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, electric automobiles,

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...

motion sickness Motion sickness occurs due to a difference between actual and expected motion. Symptoms commonly include nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, tiredness, loss of appetite, and increased salivation. Complications may rarely include d ...

Moral Re-Armament Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was an international moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman headed MRA for 23 years until his death in 1961. In 2001, the movement was renamed I ...

and

Moultrie, Georgia Moultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. It is the third largest city in Southwest Georgia, behind Thomasville and Albany. As of the 2010 census, Moultrie's population was 14,268. It was originally ...

. Incidentally, the "Fact-Index" definitions themselves were not indexed. ''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia''

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 data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

(1989) was the first multimedia encyclopedia.''

Kister Kister or Kisters is a surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Gerry H. Kisters (1919–1986), American soldier *Kenneth Kister (born 1935), American library scientist * Jack Kister, American electrical engineer, developer of VMEbus *Ja ...

's Best Encyclopedias'',1994

Grolier Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acade ...

's earlier CD-ROM encyclopedia was not multimedia. The encyclopedia was founded by Frank E. Compton in 1922. Publishing rights to the F.E. Compton & Company products were acquired by

in 1961. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. initially owned ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' from 1961 to 1993, and later reacquired it in 2002. Britannica had sold its Compton's interests to the

Tribune Company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

in 1993, and for a time ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' was a product of

The Learning Company The Learning Company (TLC) was an educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and productivity ...

, which purchased Brøderbund in 1998. In March 2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. "acquired an exclusive license to publish and distribute ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' in print and CD-ROM from Broderbund LLC and Success Publishing Group".

Other editions

Compton's has also published a yearly supplement, ''The Compton yearbook'' from 1958 to the present. Library of Congress catalog entry
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Print editions

*''Compton's Encyclopedia'', 8 volumes, 1922 **10 volumes, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 in two versions 1. plain red boards w/insignia 2. dark brown embossed boards deluxe **16 volumes, 1931 **15 volumes, 1933, 1935, 1939, 1948 **20 volumes, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962 *''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'', 24 volumes 1969–1971 **22 volumes, 1972, 1973 **26 volumes, annually 1974–1978 and 1980–1995, 2004 *''Compton's by Britannica'' **26 volumes, 2009

CD-ROM editions

*''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 1989, the first "multimedia" CD-ROM *''Compton's Family Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 1991, a "stripped down" version of ''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'' *''Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 1993, 1995 through 2001. Britannica's 1989 ''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'' was the first "multimedia" CD-ROM encyclopedia. It won the 1991

Software Publishers Association The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new na ...

Excellence in Software Award for Best Education Program. The product was invented by Britannica's Michael Reed who served as its Creative Director during its production. Reed coordinated with a team from Jostens Company out of San Diego that actually built the product.

's 1985 ''

Academic American Encyclopedia ''Academic American Encyclopedia'' is a 21-volume general English-language encyclopedia published in 1980. It was first produced by Arête Publishing, the American subsidiary of the Dutch publishing company VNU'' Kister's Best Encyclopedias'', 199 ...

on CD-ROM'' was text-only. In 1990, when it was called ''The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1988–1991), still pictures were added. Variants of Compton's CD-ROM encyclopedias were ''Compton's Concise Encyclopedia'', ''Compton's Family Encyclopedia'', and ''Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia''.

Environments in Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia

*Grandma's Attic (top left) *Madcap Music (top right) *Compton's Newsroom (middle left) *Kaleidescape (middle right) *Compton's Skyship (bottom left) *Wild and Free (bottom right)

References