The ''Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative

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 ...

focused on the history and culture of 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 sove ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Description

The encyclopedia is a project of

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two dec ...

's History Department, th
Oregon Council of Teachers of English
and the

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preserv ...

. It has drawn support from

Oregon Cultural Trust Oregon Cultural Trust is a cultural promotion and preservation organization in the U.S. state of Oregon. It provides grants and funding to arts, humanities, and heritage organizations to stabilize and expand. The Trust's partners include the Oreg ...

partners

Oregon Arts Commission The Oregon Arts Commission is a governor-appointed body of nine commissioners who allocate grants for artists based in the U.S. state of Oregon. It receives the bulk of its funding through the National Endowment for the Arts, the state, and the O ...

Oregon Council for the Humanities Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. ...

Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission (OCHC) is a non-profit organization based in the U.S. state of Oregon. The commission was formed in 1988 in order to discover and commemorate important literary and cultural contributions to Oregon's histor ...

, and the

Oregon State Historic Preservation Office The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pro ...

. 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. 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. The project originally aimed to produce about 3,000 articles. 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. A few days before the announcement date, over $175,000 had been raised and another $500,000 was pending.Alt URL
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References

External links

Official website

Oregon History Wayfinder - interactive map that links historical sites to Oregon Encyclopedia articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregon Encyclopedia, The 2008 establishments in Oregon American online encyclopedias Oregon culture Portland State University 21st-century encyclopedias Encyclopedias of U.S. states Works about Oregon