General Details
Title: The Encylopædia Britannica Fifteenth Edition
Volumes: 32
Language: English
Publisher: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company
Year: 1997
Pages: 32,094
The 15th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, first appeared in 1974. Parenthetically, for the grammarians out there, this is the only edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica I own to implement the Oxford comma. Like the previous edition, it was released anew each year with revisions and new articles, but this edition had a new organizational system in place. The philosopher Mortimer Adler had previously attempted to systematically classify knowledge in Britannica's sister set, The Great Books of the Western World, in 1954, which features a 2-volume Syntopicon defining 102 "great ideas" - these are listed with numerous subcategories, and serve as a topical index to the works included in the Great Books. This idea is attempted again with the 15th edition Encyclopædia Britannica, which begins with a Propædia volume, hierarchically classifying the areas of knowledge under 24 broad categories and numbers levels of subcategories in the "Outline of Knowledge." The Propædia also contains the acetate anatomy pages and the list of contributors for the Micropædia. The "Outline of Knowledge" is a good idea in principle, but not much help in practice. It works well for some topics (history) or when one wants to browse aimlessly for ideas of things to look up, but generally the index is better suited for finding information on specifics. There are no page numbers to guide the reader to words once found, either - the Propædia simply lists topics in an ordered manner; the index still must be used to find where articles are located. The word "umbrella," for example, is found by following Part 6, "The World of Art," to Division II ("The Particular Arts") and then to Section 629 ("Arts of Decoration and Functional Design"); under this, "umbrella" can be found under the Micropædia general subjects, under the heading for "other."
The main encyclopedia itself is split into the 12-volume Micropædia, which features shorter entries and is reminiscent of the typical encyclopedia format, and the 17-volume Macropædia, which features long, detailed articles on a limited number of subjects. There are also 2 index volumes; an alphabetical index was not initially included, as the Propædia was intended to replace it, but this was added in 1985 in response to criticism. There are somewhat-obnoxious reminders every five pages or so throughout the Micropædia instructing the reader that they should consult the index first before diving in. The 15th edition remained in print until 2010, when the Encyclopædia Britannica moved to an online-only format. My copy is from 1997.
Sample Entries
I look up the same entries in every reference work on this site in order to provide an equal basis of comparison: "umbrella" and "Saint Louis." For quick, general knowledge, (despite what the warnings proclaim) one can go straight to the Micropædia for information on a topic, but to make full use of this encyclopedia, the index is indispensable. I will therefore, in addition to quoting the Micropædia articles, also look up the two standard sample entries in the index, to show the range of articles they can be found in.
Here is the index entry for "umbrella:"
umbrella (device) 12:122:2a
for a list of related subjects see Propaedia: Section 629
There is really only one place given to look for information, the Micropædia entry in volume 12, on page 122; the Propædia section mentioned is the one I reference above, "Arts of Decoration and Functional Design," which is very broad.
umbrella, a portable, hand-held device that is used for protection against rain and sunlight. The modern umbrella consists of a circular fabric or plastic screen stretched over hinged ribs that radiate from a central pole. The hinged ribs permit the screen to be opened and closed so that the umbrella can be carried with ease when not in use.
Umbrellas in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India were used to protect important persons from the sun. They were often large and held by bearers, and they served as marks of honour and authority for the wearer. The ancient Greeks helped introduce umbrellas into Europe as sunshades, and the Romans used them to protect against rain. The use of umbrellas disappeared in Europe during the Middle Ages but had reappeared in Italy by the late 16th century, where they were regarded as marks of distinction for the pope and clergy. By the 17th century the use of the umbrella had spread to France, and by the 18th century umbrellas were common throughout Europe. A small, dainty umbrella used for shading women's faces from the sun became known as a parasol and was a standard element of fashionable women's outdoor attire in the 18th and 19th centuries. The traditional construction of umbrellas using cane ribs was replaced in the 1850s by modern umbrellas using a very light but strong steel frame. Men in the West began carrying umbrellas for personal use in the mid-19th century. Men's umbrellas were generally black, but in the 20th century men's as well as women's umbrellas were made in a variety of bright and colourful designs.
The index entry for "Saint Louis" is broader in scope; beyond the main Micropædia on "Saint Louis" itself, there are links given to a number of other Micropædia articles and to the large Macropædia article on the "United States."
Saint Louis (Mo., U.S.) 10:328:1a
major ref. in United States of America 29:375:1b
blues development 2:302:2a
housing development demolition 13:993:1b
location maps 29:156, 179
Looking up the main Micropædia entry for "Saint Louis" in volume 10, page 328, we can really see how much shorter Micropædia articles are compared to past editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica:
Saint Louis, city, adjacent to but independent of St. Louis county, east-central Missouri, U.S., on the Mississippi River (bridged there at seven points) opposite East St. Louis, Ill., 10 miles (16 km) below its confluence with the Missouri. It is the state's largest city, its boundaries not having been changed since 1876, when it became administratively independent. Its metropolitan statistical area comprises some 5,340 square miles (13,830 square km).
Founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède Liguest of New Orleans as a fur-trading post, it was organized as a village by Auguste Chouteau and named for the canonized Louis IX of France. Transferred to Spain (1770), St. Louis was later retroceded to France; and following the Louisiana Purchase (1803) it became part of the United States. The city was the seat of government for the Territory of Louisiana (1805) and the Territory of Missouri (1812). It was the site of the first Missouri constitutional convention (1820), but it ceased to serve as capital when statehood was attained (1821). It became the crossroads of westward expansion in the United States and an outfitting point for exploring parties, fur-trading expeditions, and pioneers traveling the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails. The Mexican War of 1846 brought a brisk trade with the Southwest. During the American Civil War, St. Louis was kept under martial law while remaining a Union base.
Since the steamboat era (1817-70) and arrival of the railroads in the 1850s, the city has been a major transportation hub. A port of entry, it is the centre of the Great Lakes to the Gulf Waterway with large markets for livestock, grain, wool, and lumber. A widely diversified economy benefits from local raw materials including iron, lead, zinc, copper, aluminum, and magnesium. Highly diversified industries include brewing, food processing, and the manufacture of aircraft, automobiles, shoes, chemicals, railway cars, textiles, and electronic components.
Several universities, colleges, seminaries, and Bible and trade schools are in the metropolitan area. St. Louis University (1818) maintains the Pius XII Library, built to preserve microfilms of Vatican Library treasures. Washington University (1853) was founded by William Greenleaf Eliot, grandfather of the poet T. S. Eliot, and St. Louis College of Pharmacy dates from 1864. The University of Missouri-St. Louis (1963) is just north of the city. Colleges include Lindenwood (1827), Maryville (1872), Webster (1915), Fontbonne (1917), and Harris-Stowe (1857).
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1880) is one of the oldest in the United States. Forest Park was the site of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) of 1904, which brought international fame to the city. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, built on the original village plat, is dominated by the 629.5-foot (191.9-metre) stainless-steel Gateway Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen to commemorate St. Louis' historic role as "Gateway to the West." The Old Cathedral of St. Louis of France (Byzantine-style; 1831-34) was granted a special indulgence by Pope Gregory XVI. The Old Courthouse (1839-64) was the scene of the Dred Scott slavery case and contains frescoes by Carl Wimar. In Aloe Plaza stands Carl Milles' fountain symbolizing the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The poet Eugene Field's boyhood home has a children's museum. A theatre is housed in the Spanish International Pavilion, moved to St. Louis from the New York World's Fair of 1964-65. Eads Bridge (1874), world's first steel-truss span, has been designated a national historic landmark. Jefferson Barracks Historical Park is located 12 miles (19 km) south of the city. St. Louis is the home of the Cardinals baseball team, and a number of athletic events are held in Busch Memorial Stadium. The St. Louis Gateway Convention Center was completed in 1978. Inc. town, 1821; city, 1823. Pop. (1990) city, 396,685; St. Louis MSA, 2,444,099.
This article, of course, only really exemplifies the Micropædia articles; the Macropædia articles are far too large to sample here. Information pertaining to Saint Louis, for example, can be found throughout the large Macropædia article on the "United States of America." Found in volume 29, the "United States of America" entry stretches from page 149 to 457. To give a sense of how these large Macropædia articles are structured, the basic rundown is as follows: the general geographic and cultural aspects of the United States are described over pages 150 through 201; the history of the United States from colonial times to the present is covered on pages 202 through 265; and then the individual states are described up through page 451. The remaining 6 pages are devoted to the article's bibliography. Saint Louis is mentioned under the section on Missouri, starting on p. 375: "For the West, St. Louis, Missouri's largest city, long was the closest contact with the more settled society and the culture of the East, and for the East the state had a reputation as the chief gateway to the West."