American Peoples Encyclopedia

The 1948 edition of the American Peoples Encyclopedia was a 20-volume work, with more 10,000,000 words, written by 3,200 contributors, including 9 Nobel Prize winners.

[1][2] The Chairman of the American Peoples Encyclopedia Editorial Board was Walter Dill Scott, President Emeritus of Northwestern University.

[4] Sears Roebuck and Company conducted a national advertising campaign that supported both its retail store and its mail-order catalog encyclopedia sales.

[10] In 1976, with The Richards Company no longer selling American Peoples Encyclopedia, Grolier discontinued it, deciding not to underwrite the expense necessary for a needed updating.

But Kister also found that the American Peoples Encyclopedia had dull illustrations, sparse bibliographies, a bland writing style, and superficial coverage of many topics.