Liberty
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Liberty. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a state of freedom or fr liberty, abridged only by the restrictions under the and regulations established inform of laws for the protection and state. terests of the nation, society, or the ar- It is a state of exemption from bitrary will of others, secured by estabmember is lished laws, by which each of protected against injury on the part others. Liberty of the press, the free right and , power to publish whatever one pleases subject only to punishment for abuse of that freedom by publishing anything mischievous, hurtful, or cent State. bonds, ex libelous, to the public or to individuals tance . e taxes e e tax. Th Liberty-pole, a flag-staff surrounded the were tive enlisted a with symbols of liberty. Moral liberty, advertising districts. that liberty of choice which is essential to total ertising the moral responsibility. Natural liberty, 000,000 subscript a state of exemption from the restraint or tricts 200, and n control of others, and the institutions of civil life. The power to act or do sexceeded Loan subscriptions criptions as one pleases, subject only to the laws of nature. Political liberty or freedom of were ope Oct. 27. 000,000,000 27. The a nation; exemption of a nation from ments 00,000. P any unjust abridgment of its rights and the total independence by another nation. were ar 300. cotal subser Religious liberty, the free right to FOURTH LIBERTY Y LO FOR VICTORY, BUY JY B
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Statue of, a colossal statue on Bedloe's Island in the harbor of New York . It was designed by Bartholdi, and was presented by the people of France to the United States in 1881. The pedestal is of stone. It was built by New York subscriptions. It cost with the mounting of the figure $350,000. The statue is of bronze, bolted to an iron skeleton or framework, and cost $250,000, making the entire cost $600,000. The bronze alone weighs 100 tons. The work was completed in 1886. The pedestal is a square structure. The top is 149 feet above the water level. The statue proper, from heel to tip of torch, is 151 feet high, the tallest known. The total structure rises 301 feet above the water level. Some idea of the size of the figure may be had from the dimensions of some of the parts. The index finger is eight feet long. The finger nail is ten by thirteen inches. The waist is thirty-five feet in diameter. The eyes are thirty inches apart. The head measures ten feet from ear to ear. The interior of the head is reached by an inner stairway and accommodates a party of forty. The torch is large enough to hold eight persons. The lighthouse service of the government maintains a light in the torch so that the statue serves a purpose as a lighthouse. See Bartholdi
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 description is accurate in outline but wrong in two details: the skin is copper, not bronze, and the light the Lighthouse Service kept in the torch had already been discontinued in 1902, when the statue passed to the War Department. Bedloe's Island was officially renamed Liberty Island in 1956; the statue became a national monument in 1924 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. The torch has been closed to visitors since a 1916 explosion at nearby Black Tom, and the flame Aiton saw was replaced during the 1984-86 restoration, the original now displayed in the museum opened on the island in 2019. Collier's account of press liberty as freedom "subject only to punishment for abuse" by publishing anything "mischievous, hurtful, or libelous" was narrowed sharply by later US courts, which barred most prior restraint in 1931 and required proof of actual malice in libel suits by public officials in 1964.
Written for this edition, 2026.