High Country News

|| High Country Press Newswire

April 6, 2006 issue

Encyclopedia of Appalachia

Story by Kathleen McFadden

The 1832-page volume providing a one-stop resource for all things Appalachian has been a long time coming, but the Encyclopedia of Appalachia made its debut in Boone on Saturday, March 25, when representatives from East Tennessee State University and Appalachian State University gathered at the Watauga County Library for the first of the local rollouts planned for various locations throughout the Appalachian region.

The book’s first presentation was at the Appalachian Studies Conference in Dayton, Ohio, held on March 17 through 19.

The contract for the encyclopedia was signed in 1997, with much of the original funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

At the Boone rollout, retired ASU professor Dr. Howard Dorgan, who served as section editor for the encyclopedia’s Religion section, said, “I think I speak for everyone here, we’re incredibly proud of this. Ten years ago when this all started, I didn’t know [how it would turn out]. At that point, it hadn’t been thoroughly conceptualized.”

Conceptualization fell to the editorial board members who, by means of numerous flip charts and a lot of brainstorming, made the key set of decisions that resulted in the encyclopedia’s five primary sections—The Landscape, The People, Work and the Economy, Cultural Traditions and Institutions—and the book’s 30 subsections.

Two ASU faculty members served on the editorial board: Dr. Pat Beaver, director of Appalachian Studies, and Dr. John Williams, professor in the Department of History. In addition to Dorgan, another ASU faculty member served as a section editor, Dr. Sheila Phipps of the Department of History. Phipps was responsible for the Settlement and Migration section.

More than 1,200 individuals from schools across the region—both faculty and graduate students—contributed entries for the encyclopedia.

The book itself, Williams said, “reflects the maturity of the field.” The question of whether to print a book or to develop an online resource was extensively debated, he said, and the final answer was yes, the subject is important enough that it needs a “hand-held tool,” a reference book. “Having the artifact—the book—is symbolic as well as useful,” Williams said.

According to Dr. Roberta Herrin of ETSU’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, there are currently no plans to create an online version of the encyclopedia. However, Herrin said, “We’re hoping someone will pick up the curriculum development portion of this so teachers can use the book in their classrooms.”

The University of Tennessee Press has published 15,000 copies of the book, it costs $79.95 and there are four ways to order:

Click to the University of Tennessee Website at www.utpress.org and order via the site’s secure shopping car.
Call the distribution center at 1-800-621-2736 with author, title and ISBN (Abramson, Rudy, and Jean Haskell, eds., ISBN 1-57233-456-8).
Print out the order form at www.etsu.edu/cass/about/OrderForm.pdf and either fax or mail it to University of Tennessee Press.
Send email to Cheryl Carson—ccarson3@utk.edu—with your order.

What’s In It?

The Encyclopedia of Appalachia is arranged into five primary sections with 30 subsections that include more than 2,000 entries. The volume contains 300 photos and costs $79.95.

The Landscape

Geology
Ecology
Environment
The People
Family and Community
Images and Icons
Race, Ethnicity and Identity
Settlement and Migration
Urban Appalachian Experience

Work and the Economy

Agriculture
Business, Industry and Technology
Labor
Tourism
Transportation

Cultural Traditions

Architecture
Crafts
Folklore and Folklife
Food and Cooking
Humor
Language
Literature
Music
Performing Arts
Religion
Sports and Recreation
Visual Arts

Institutions

Cultural Institutions, Education
Government
Health
Media

Encyclopedia-in-Schools Project

ETSU’s Center for Appalachian Studies and the University of Tennessee Press have developed a way for public-spirited individuals and businesses to help make the Encyclopedia of Appalachia available to every middle and high school in the Appalachian region.

For a tax-deductible donation of $50, a donor can purchase a copy of the encyclopedia and have it shipped to the school of his/her choice or to a school designated by the Center for Appalachian Studies. A bookplate will be inserted in the book to acknowledge the donor.

Orders for the Encyclopedia-in-Schools Project must be placed through Dr. Roberta Herrin, Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, PO Box 70556, Johnson City, TN 37614. For more info on the Encyclopedia-in-Schools Project, click to www.etsu.edu/cass/about/BooksInSchoolsProject.asp.