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Volumes of General Lithuanian Encyclopedia (Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija)

Lithuanian encyclopedias are encyclopedias published in the Lithuanian language or encyclopedias about Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. There are several major general encyclopedias published to this date: one in independent Lithuania in the 1930's (never finished due to World War II), two in the United States, three in the Lithuanian SSR, and one still in progress in independent Lithuania. The first known attempt to create a Lithuanian encyclopedia was in 1883, when Jonas Jacevičius failed to get permission from the Tsarist authorities for such a publication. Currently the 20-volume Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija or VLE is in print.

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 between the editors resulted in the abandonment of the project in 1912. After the declaration of independence of Lithuania in 1918, two separate initiatives were born in 1924. One by the Publishing House Švyturys (English: The Lighthouse), sought to publish a general encyclopedia, the other by the Publishing House Kultūra (English: Culture), in Šiauliai, sought to publish an encyclopedia concerning only Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. However, both initiatives failed due to financial hardships. In 1929, Spaudos Fondas (English: The Press Foundation) and Lietuvių Katalikų Mokslo Akademija (English: The Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences) separately initiated publishing the first encyclopedia. They finally agreed to cooperate only in 1931, and the first booklet came out on October 1, 1931. Vaclovas Biržiška was appointed as the chief editor. Many difficulties ensued, but the booklets were finally published every month and became almost a periodic scientific journal. Twelve booklets would eventually be combined into one volume. The first volume, containing some 5,000 articles and 700 illustrations, came out in 1933. Nine volumes were published and the tenth was under way (up to letter J) when in 1944, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania, and it's printing was stopped. The encyclopedia was never finished.

"Boston Encyclopedia" (Lietuvių enciklopedija)

The idea of a Lithuanian encyclopedia was revived in the United States by Lithuanian emigrants. Juozas Kapočius organized the editorial team and Vaclovas Biržiška again became the chief editor. Between 1953 and 1966, they published a 35-volume Lietuvių enciklopedija (often nicknamed The Boston Encyclopedia because it was published in Boston, Massachusetts) in the Lithuanian language. Two volumes of supplements and addenda were published 1969 and 1985. It is often believed that they were continuing the unfinished work of their first encyclopedia begun in their homeland. The undertaking was especially difficult because most of their materials and sources were left behind in Lithuania and were now unavailable as a result of the iron curtain. However, it remains up to now, the largest Lithuanian encyclopedia ever printed. Between 1970 and 1978, the same group of people published a six-volume Encyclopedia Lituanica, an English language encyclopedia on Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. To this day, it is the most comprehensive work on Lithuania in English.

"The red one" - Soviet Lithuanian Encyclopedia (Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija)

In Lithuania, Soviet authorities printed a three-volume Mažoji lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija (English: Concise Soviet Lithuanian Encyclopedia) in 1966-1971; that is after the Boston Encyclopedia was already completed. It covered only Lithuania-related topics. Twelve volumes (plus one volume of supplements) Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija (or LTE) was published between 1976 and 1985. It is often called "The Red One" because of its distinct cover colors. It is still valuable for scientific topics, but the social science topics were distorted to match Soviet propaganda (e.g. portraying western countries as bourgeois dictatorships and praising the Soviet Union for its great achievements). A lot of attention was paid to Marxism-Leninism and the Communist Party disregarding many "inconvenient" topics of Lithuanian history. Between 1985 and 1988, four-volume Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedia (or TLE), dealing with only Lithuanian-related topics, was also published. It closely followed the lead of LTE. The last volume already allowed for more historical truth due to less strict censorship during the Glasnost and the Sąjūdis movements.

An open volume of the General Lithuanian Encyclopedia

Since 2001, Science & Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute (Lithuanian: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas) has been publishing Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija or VLE (English: General Lithuanian Encyclopedia). It is planned that the work will be completed by between 2010 and 2012. The planned twenty volumes should contain about 800 pages each, 115,000 articles with 24,000 illustrations in total. About 20–25% of its content is devoted to Lithuania matters. As of the summer 2006, nine volumes were already published. (ISBN 5-420-01486-6).

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Lithuanian encyclopedias

• 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.
• (Lithuanian) Vaclovas Biržiška (ed.), Lietuviškoji enciklopedija, Preface, Vol. 1, pages V-VII, Spaudos Fondas: 1933.
• (Lithuanian) Jonas Zinkus, et. al. (ed.), Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedia, Afterword, Vol. 4, page 702, Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija: 1988.
• (Lithuanian) Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija: Apie, Science & Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute. Accessed August 30, 2006.