>David & David --
>         I agree with the two of you and Austin Kerr that the Standard
>Encyclopedia remains very useful.  It is a monument of temperance
>movement scholarship, with its global coverage greatly enhanced by the
>worldwide network of missionaries which could be called upon at that
>time. (As so often with social movements, the scholarship reaches its
>height just as the movement is losing its political significance!)
>         For instance, when Julia Lee was working on alcohol in Chinese
>poetry, we could not find anything else as detailed on alcohol in
>ancient Chinca (nowadays, there's also the somewhat quirky "Grandiose
>survey of Chinese alcoholic drinks and beverages",
>http://ocean.wxuli.edu.cn/wine/umain.htm).  We were very happy indeed
>about 20 years ago at the Alcohol Research Group in Berkeley when Ron
>Stall came in with a set of the Encyclopedia for the library that he had
>picked up at a flea market stall for $10.  In many places (particularly
>outside the US) it is not very available.
>         I wonder whether it might be worth approaching the Society for
>the Study of Addiction (http://www.addiction-ssa.org/ssa_3.htmabout) to
>see if they might be willing to host it on their website.  It seems
>appropriate, somehow, in  view of their status as the oldest research
>society in the field.  Robin
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: David [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Friday, 13 April 2001 3:21 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem
>
>
>Putting the Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem on the web
>would be
>worthwhile only if it can be scanned with accuracy.  That would require
>a
>full proofreading of the scanned text.  Too many things are being put up
>on
>the web that are flawed and potentially misleading to people who naively
>assume the web's reliability.  Is there an angel out there who would be
>willing to support the use of top-quality scanning equipment and the
>human
>proofreading to follow?  Would the ladies of the WCTU be interested in
>making
>a grant to a university.  Northern Illinois University has a
>digitization
>center that would be capable of doing the work, but the funding would
>need to
>come from elsewhere.
>
>David Kyvig
>
>David Fahey wrote:
>
> > Arguably, the most important reference work in temperance history is
>the
> > Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem, 6 vols., ed. Ernest
>Hurst
> > Cherrington (Westerville, Ohio: American Issue, 1925-30), which tried
>to
> > cover the entire world.  Would it be worth the trouble of somebody to
>scan
> > it and place it on the Web?  A number of larger reference works
>published
> > early in the 20th century are available on the Web.  What would be the
> > problems?  What would be required to post the Standard Encyclopedia?
>Is
> > the print version readily available to researchers?


Robin Room <[log in to unmask]>