Elkan Harrison Powell (21 November 1888 – 8 May 1966) was a president of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Powell introduced the policies of continuous revision and of leveraging the ''Britannica's'' fame to market successful spin-off products, such as historical overviews, compilations of good ''Britannica'' articles, children's

encyclopedias 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 ...

and atlases. These policies are still in practice today. Powell was a vice president at

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

in 1932, when the publisher of the ''Britannica'', Benjamin J. Cox, resigned. Powell became his replacement and quickly analyzed the factors affecting the profitability of the ''Britannica''. In 1933, he introduced the continuous revision policy.. New ''Britannica''-branded products such as the 12-volume children's encyclopedia, ''Britannica Junior'', appeared a year later.http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186618/Encyclopaedia-Britannica/301347/Corporate-change

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Elkan Harrison Encyclopædia Britannica 20th-century American businesspeople 1888 births 1966 deaths