Reference source will be all about Va.

Humanities group's online encyclopedia should be up by 2007

BY MELANIE MAYHEW
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Tuesday, July 26, 2005



There are tantalizing questions that most Virginians, regardless of how long
they've lived in the state, can't answer without a thick, dusty,
smelly-with-age encyclopedia.
Who is Irene Morgan?
How long is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel?
Where is the country's largest white oak tree?
The answers to these questions and more will soon be easily accessible to
Internet users when the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities launches the
New Virginia Encyclopedia at the end of 2007.
The encyclopedia is the first of its kind in the state. Similar projects
exist in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland and Nevada, said Andrew Chancey,
director of planning and management for the VFH.
"There is no single resource that will do, in scope, what the New Virginia
Encyclopedia will introduce," Chancey said. "We want to create a single
reference source that people can use when they have questions about
Virginia."
The online encyclopedia, unlike the traditional paper version, is limitless.
More than a dozen section editors and hundreds of writers will contribute
and, although the target date for completion is in 2007, VFH officials
believe it will be a living project.
"We hope that this acorn will grow into a mighty oak and will be as
encompassing as we can make it," Chancey said.
It will have the traditional encyclopedia components of cross-references,
bibliographies and thematic essays. But it will also include hyperlinks to
other online resources, advanced search functions, audio and video excerpts,
and mapping and timeline capabilities.
"We see this as the absolute extension of what we've done for 30 years,"
said Sheryl Hayes, VFH director of development. The 31- year-old foundation
develops and supports education, research and public programs in the
humanities.
The project will cost at least $2.2 million for a five-year intense
development phase and to make plans for long-term maintenance. The VFH got a
grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop plans and
has received funds from the state and a private donor to begin implementing
the plans this summer.
In just a few years, New Virginia Encyclopedia users, with a click of a
computer mouse, will unearth fragments of history that were once buried in
the traditional, trusty -- but outdated encyclopedia.
Answers:
Morgan refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1944, 11 years before Rosa
Parks' famous refusal. Morgan's case went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is 17 miles long.
The country's largest white oak tree is in Brunswick County.

Melanie Mayhew is a staff writer at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.

This story can be found at:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784061220

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html