We previously announced that the Encyclopedia of Mormonism is available online at encyclopediaofmormonism.byu.edu. This week’s Church News had a good article about it. Below is the text from that article:
BYU puts massive Encyclopedia of Mormonism online in free, easy-to-search format
By R. Scott Lloyd
Church News staff writer
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, an ambitious reference work published in 1992 by Macmillan Publishing Co. of New York, but which has been out of print for several years, is now available without charge to Internet users.
The link, available through the BYU Web site, is [http://encyclopediaofmormonism.byu.edu] “I am confident that many people all over the world will find the Encyclopedia of Mormonism to be an excellent port of entry for information about hundreds of topics that remain of current interest,” said John Welch, a law professor at BYU who was on the board of editors that assembled the five-volume work.
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism is a joint product of Brigham Young University and Macmillan Publishing Company, and its contents do not necessarily represent the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brother Welch emphasized that the new online availability of the encyclopedia is only Phase I of a three-phase project. “In Phase II, the entire encyclopedia will become word-searchable, and in Phase III its articles and references will be updated and supplied with links to online resources.”
In its hard-bound publication, the encyclopedia is a five-volume work with individual entries by 750 authors covering Mormon history, doctrine, scripture, organization and culture. Originally, it was to be four volumes, but a fifth volume was included containing the text of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price for the convenience of users who might not otherwise have ready access to those books of scripture.
The concept of the encyclopedia originated in 1987, when Charles Smith of Macmillan approached S. Kent Brown of BYU, the two having worked together on the Coptic Encyclopedia. With the approval of Jeffrey R. Holland, then president of the university, a publication agreement was negotiated, and a Board of Editors was selected with Daniel H. Ludlow as editor-in-chief. Two members of the Quorum of the Twelve were advisers to the project.
Reviewers have praised the encyclopedia, including the prestigious Library Journal, which noted in its Feb. 15, 1992 issue: “A tremendous amount of material is presented here, and one of the outstanding strengths of the set is access to the material through the combination of the (synoptic) outline, cross references and index. Seeing the Mormons and their tradition through their own eyes, readers gain insight into Mormon self-understanding.”
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