World Almanac and Encyclopedia

The World Almanac and Book of Facts is a US published reference work and conveys information about such subjects as world changes, tragedies, sports feats, etc. It has been published yearly from 1868 to 1875, and again every year since 1886. The first edition of The World Almanac was published by The New York World newspaper in 1868 (the name of the publication comes from the newspaper itself, which was known as The World). Published just three years after the end of the US Civil War and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, its 120 pages of information touched on such events as the process of Reconstruction and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Publication was suspended in 1876, but in 1886 newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who had purchased The New York World and quickly transformed it into one of the most influential newspapers in the country, revived The World Almanac with the intention of making it a compendium of universal knowledge. The World Almanac has been published annually since.