Funk & Wagnalls (芬克&瓦格诺）is apublisherbased inNew York Cityknown for its reference works, including an encyclopedia, content from which became a part ofMicrosoft'sEncartadigital encyclopedia.
HistoryIsaac Kaufmann Funk （艾萨克考夫曼芬克）founded the business in 1876 asI.K. Funk & Company. The firm's first publication was theMetropolitan Pulpit. In 1877, Adam Willis Wagnalls, one of Funk's classmates at Wittenberg College, now Wittenberg University, joined the firm as a partner. The two changed the name of the firm toFunk & Wagnalls Companyin 1890.Prior to 1890, F. & W. published only religious-oriented works. The publication ofThe Literary Digestin 1890 marked a change for the firm to a publisher of general reference dictionaries and encyclopedias. The firm followed in 1894 with its most memorable publication,The Standard Dictionary of the English Language. 1912 saw the publication of theFunk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia.
In 1953, the firm began to sell its reference publications through a supermarket continuity marketing campaign, encouraging consumers to include the latest volume of the encyclopedia on their shopping lists.
In 1965, the company, known asFunk & Wagnalls, Inc., was bought by Reader's Digest Association. By 1971, it had been sold again to the firm Dun & Bradstreet. In subsequent years, the publication rights to the company's reference works (aside from the encyclopedia) were acquired by other firms. The publication rights to the encyclopedia were spun off by Dun & Bradstreet in 1983, and were bought up once more in 1990 by K-III Holdings Inc.
In 1984, Dun & Bradstreet sold Funk & Wagnalls to a group of Funk & Wagnalls executives.
In 1988, the company was purchased by Field Publications, a division of the Field Corporation.
In 1998, as part of the Information division of Primedia Inc. (renamed K-III Holdings),Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopediabecame the web site "funkandwagnalls.com". This short-lived venture was shut down in 2001. The encyclopedia exists today only asFunk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, an electronic reference provided to educational institutions by the World Almanac Education Group.
Funk & Wagnalls is now part of Weekly Reader, a Reader's Digest Company.
Some content from the encyclopedia became a part of Microsoft'sEncartadigital encyclopedia.
Popular cultureIn the late 1960s through early 1970s, Funk and Wagnalls became part of one of the iconic jokes on the ground-breaking showLaugh-In, where a frequently-made reference was "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls", a play on the perceived profanity when speaking the word "funk".
Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent sketches frequently made reference to the 'answers' being hidden from Carnac as "kept in a mayonnaise jar outside Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today".
In theSouth Parkepisode "Cancelled", Cartman asks: "What the Funk and Wagnalls are you talking about?"
In theBuck Rogers in the 25th Century1979 episode "Planet of the Slave Girls,"Buck, argues with fellow pilot Major Duke Danton in-flight, "If you call that interference, there's something wrong with your Funk & Wagnalls." Danton, unaware of the centuries-old origin of the statement, replies, "I don't know what you mean by that, but how'd you like to repeat that in the flight hangar?"
Publicationsunknown -The Pulpit Commentary
1890 –The Literary Digest
1892 -The Preacher's Homiletic Commentary on the Old Testament
1894 –The Standard Dictionary of the English Language
1896 -The Preacher's Homiletic Commentary on the New Testament
1912 –Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia
1927 –The World's One Hundred Best Short Stories (Ten Volumes)
1949 –Funk & Wagnalls standard handbook of synonyms, antonyms, and prepositions
1949 –Funk & Wagnalls standard dictionary of folklore, mythology and legend
1958 –Standard Dictionary of the English Language (International Edition)
1962 –Poetry handbook; a dictionary of terms
1973 –Funk & Wagnalls Guide to modern world literature
1983 –Funk & Wagnalls new encyclopedia
1996 –Funk & Wagnalls new world encyclopedia(electronic database)
1996 –Funk & Wagnalls world atlas
