There have been three separate works using the title Encyclopedia Americana.

The first work began publication in 1829 by Francis Lieber, an influential 19th century German-American scholar.^[2]: 31 The 13 volumes of the first edition were completed in 1833, and other editions and printings followed in 1835, 1836, 1847–1848, 1849 and 1858. According to one contemporary source, the original price in 1832, at which time several volumes had been issued, was to be $2.50 per volume for 12 volumes, or $30 in total.^{[7][circular reference][8][circular reference]} At first, Lieber planned only an English-language translation of the 7th edition of the popular German encyclopedia Konversations-Lexikon, familiarly known as Brockhaus after its publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. However, as work on the new encyclopedia progressed, Lieber sought and added original articles by leading U.S. writers and intellectuals of the day. United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, for instance, contributed more than 120 pages of legal material to the 1st edition. Hence, when the Americana began appearing some 165 years ago, it represented a hybrid of 2 cultures, German and American.^[2]: 31

A second Encyclopedia Americana was published by J.M. Stoddart between 1883 and 1889, as a supplement to American reprintings of the 9th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was four quarto volumes meant to "extend and complete the articles in Britannica".^[9] Stoddart's work, however, is not connected to the earlier work by Lieber.^[10]

In 1902, a new, 16-volume Encyclopedia Americana was published under the editorial supervision of Scientific American magazine. The magazine's editor, Frederick Converse Beach, was editor-in-chief, assisted by hundreds of eminent scholars and authorities as consulting editors and article authors. Beach also expanded the encyclopedia's coverage, especially in the area of the physical and life sciences.^[2]: 31 George Edwin Rines was appointed managing editor in 1903.^[11] Between 1903 and 1906 the publisher was R.S. Peale & Co. From 1906 through 1936, Encyclopedia Americana was published by the Americana Corporation, with the editorial support of Scientific American. The relationship with Scientific American was terminated in 1911.^[12] From 1907 to 1912, the encyclopedia was published as The Americana.

In 1918–20, the Americana Corporation published a new, International, 30-volume edition, with George Edwin Rines continuing as editor-in-chief.^{[11][2]: 31} It was the last entirely new edition of the encyclopedia.^[2]: 31 A yearbook, which appeared under a variety of titles, was also published each year beginning in 1923 and continuing until 2008.^[1]

In 1936, the Americana Corporation was purchased by The Grolier Society, later renamed Grolier Incorporated. The Americana Corporation's president, J. Cooper Graham, became a vice president of Grolier.^[13] By the late1960s, Grolier's annual sales of Encyclopedia Americana and its sister publications under Grolier—The Book of Knowledge, the American Peoples Encyclopedia, the Book of Popular Science, and Lands and Peoples were over $181 million,^[14] and the company held a 30 percent market share as the leading publisher of encyclopedias in the United States.^[15] Grolier's corporate headquarters were in a large building (variously named the Americana Building and the Grolier Building) in Midtown Manhattan, at 575 Lexington Avenue. Sales during this period were accomplished primarily through mail-order and door-to-door operations. Telemarketing and third-party distribution of Encyclopedia Americana through Grolier's Lexicon Publications subsidiary added to sales volumes in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, Grolier had moved its operations to Danbury, Connecticut.

In 1988, Grolier was purchased by the French media company Hachette, which owned a well-known French-language encyclopedia, the Hachette Encyclopedia. Hachette was later absorbed by the French conglomerate the Lagardère Group.

A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia was published in 1995. Although the text and images were stored on separate disks, it was in keeping with the standards current at the time. More importantly, the work had been digitized, allowing for the release of an online version in 1997. Over the next few years, the product was augmented with additional features, functions, supplementary references, Internet links, and a current events journal. A redesigned interface and partly re-engineered product, featuring enhanced search capabilities and a first-ever ADA-compliant, text-only version for users with disabilities, was presented in 2002.

The acquisition of Grolier by Scholastic for US$400 million, took place in 2000. The new owners projected a 30% increase in operating income, although historically Grolier had experienced earnings of 7% to 8% on income.^[16] Following the acquisition, Americana became part of a suite of educational resources, with those resources including The New Book of Knowledge, The New Book of Popular Science, America the Beautiful, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Amazing Animals of the World, and Lands and People.^[4] All of those resources formed Grolier Online (now called Scholastic GO!). According to The New York Public Library,^[5] Scholastic GO! also includes the La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, a Spanish-language general encyclopedia for students in middle through high school.^[6] However, the previously mentioned Scholastic blog does not show that.^[4] It is possible that La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre is only included in the Spanish version of Scholastic GO!, though the existense of that in itself is unsure due to the same New York Public Library link saying that the language of Scholastic GO! is English.^[5] Staff reductions as a means of controlling costs also followed soon thereafter, even while an effort was made to augment the sales force. Cuts occurred every year between 2000 and 2007, leaving a much-depleted workforce to carry out the duties of maintaining a large encyclopedia database.^[17]

In 2004, Scholastic stated that Americana's 2,500 online articles are being revised annually.^[1] Today, Americana lives on as an integral database within the Scholastic GO! product.^[4]

• Frederick Converse Beach, 1902–1917. Engineer and editor of Scientific American magazine.
• George Edwin Rines, 1917–1920. Author and editor.
• A. H. McDannald, 1920–1948. Reporter (Baltimore News and Baltimore Evening Sun), editor, and author.
• Lavinia P. Dudley, 1948–1964. Editor (Encyclopædia Britannica and Encyclopedia Americana) and manager; first woman to head a major American reference publication.
• George A. Cornish, 1965–1970. Reporter (New York Herald Tribune) and editor.
• Bernard S. Cayne, 1970–1980. Educational researcher (Educational Testing Service, Harvard Educational Review), editor (Ginn & Co., Collier's Encyclopedia, Macmillan) and business executive (Grolier Inc.).
• Alan H. Smith, 1980–1985. Editor (Grolier/Encyclopedia Americana)
• David T. Holland, 1985–1991. Editor (Harcourt Brace, Grolier/Encyclopedia Americana).
• Mark Cummings, 1991–2000. Editor (Macmillan, Oxford University Press).
• Michael Shally-Jensen, 2000–2005. Editor (Merriam-Webster/Encyclopædia Britannica).
• K. Anne Ranson, 2005–2006. Editor (Academic American Encyclopedia, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia).
• Joseph M. Castagno, 2006–present. Editor (Grolier/Lands and Peoples, New Book of Popular Science).

• Lists of encyclopedias

• Text and images of the Encyclopaedia Americana 1851 at the University of Michigan's Making of America site.
• Encyclopedia Americana Description from Grolier online
• Complete hyperlinked editions of the 1904 and 1918–20 eds. at the Online Books Page
• The Americana, Scientific American compiling department, 1912, hdl:2027/nyp.33433005016187 (fulltext)
• Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopedia Americana Corp., 1918 – via HathiTrust (fulltext)