Lithuanian encyclopedias

Lithuanian encyclopedias are

Lithuanian SSR, and one that was published in 2001–2015 in independent Lithuania. The content of the 25-volume Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija

or VLE has been made available online.

Major encyclopedias

Independent Lithuania (1918–1944)

The path to creating the first Lithuanian encyclopedia, Lietuviškoji enciklopedija, was complicated. In 1910, Antanas Olšauskas, a Lithuanian emigrant in

Chicago, Illinois, started to assemble an editorial team, but financial constraints and disagreements among the editors resulted in the abandonment of the project in 1912. After the declaration of independence of Lithuania in 1918, two initiatives were born in 1924. One, by the publishing house Švyturys, sought to publish a general encyclopedia; the other, by the publishing house Kultūra, in Šiauliai

, sought to publish an encyclopedia dedicated to Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. However, both initiatives failed due to financial hardships.

In 1929, Spaudos Fondas and

Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania

, and its printing was halted. The encyclopedia was never completed.

Encyclopedias published by Lithuanian emigrants

The idea of a Lithuanian encyclopedia was revived in the

iron curtain. Between 1970 and 1978, the same group published the six-volume Encyclopedia Lituanica

, an English-language encyclopedia on Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. It remains the most comprehensive work on Lithuania in English.

Soviet Lithuania (1945–1990)

In Lithuania, Soviet authorities printed a three-volume Concise Soviet Lithuanian Encyclopedia (Mažoji lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija) between 1966 and 1971; that is, after the Boston Encyclopedia was already completed. It covered only Lithuania-related topics. The 12-volume (plus one volume of supplements) Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija or LTE was published between 1976 and 1985. It is often called the "Red Encyclopedia" because of its distinct cover colors. It is still valuable for scientific topics, but the social science articles were distorted to conform to

Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedia or TLE, dealing with only Lithuania-related topics, was published. It closely followed the lead of LTE. Its last volume displayed signs of the intellectual freedom that arose in the 1980s during the Glasnost movement in Russia and the Sąjūdis

movement in Lithuania.

Independent Lithuania (since 1990)

In 2001, the

Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute, based in Vilnius, began the publication of the 25-volume Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija

or VLE. The last volume was published in 2014 followed by a volume of supplements in 2015. Each of volume contains about 800 pages. In total, the encyclopedia contains 121,804 articles written by 2,957 authors, 25,120 illustrations, and 656 maps. About 21% of the articles is devoted to Lithuanian matters, particularly to those that were censored and repressed during the Soviet era. In 2017, the content of the encyclopedia was made available online.

References

Antanas Klimas, Two Lithuanian Encyclopedias completed, Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences 25(4), Winter 1979. ISSN 0024-5089. Accessed August 30, 2006.
(in Lithuanian) Vaclovas Biržiška (ed.), Lietuviškoji enciklopedija, Preface, Vol. 1, pages V-VII, Spaudos Fondas: 1933.
(in Lithuanian) Jonas Zinkus, et al. (ed.), Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedia, Afterword, Vol. 4, page 702, Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija: 1988.
(in Lithuanian) Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija: Apie,
Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute
. Accessed June 11, 2017.