Long Island
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Long Island. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an island forming part of the State of New York; extreme Brooklyn and Borough of Queens. the most country important. There electric light and waterworks, and (1890) as independent city, 30,396. passenger steamers. length 118 miles; width varying from Longitude, in the United States, is 15 to 23 miles; miles; area, 1,682 square miles. reckoned from the meridians of Washing- It is connected with Manhattan by four ton, Greenwich, and Paris. Longitude is bridges and three tunnels. The island expressed in degrees, minutes, and secis divided into Kings, Queens, Nassau, onds, or in time, 15° being equivalent to and Suffolk counties, and of its area that one hour. It is reckoned to 180° E. or W. portion comprising Kings and Queens Heliocentric longitude, in astronomy, the counties forms part of the city of New longitude of a heavenly body as reckoned York under the names of Borough of on or referred to a circle, of which the center coincides with that of the sun. See LATITUDE.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an island of New York state lying to the eastward from New York harbor. It has an extreme length of 120 miles and is from twelve to twenty-three miles wide. It is reached from New York by the Suspension Bridge and by ferries. A subway is under consideration. The island is divided into four counties. The eastern portion is wooded and is held by wealthy men as a game preserve. The soil is productive and is tilled closely. The hay, fruit, and vegetables are grown for the city market. Oyster, clam, and other fisheries employ many persons. Surburban villages, as Oyster Bay, the residence of President Roosevelt, are extending farther and farther into the country and along the shores. These suburbs and towns are famous for tennis courts, golf links, and clubhouses. See Brooklyn
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that "a subway is under consideration" and that the eastern end was wooded game preserve belongs to a vanished island. The Pennsylvania Railroad's East River tunnels opened that same year, and after 1945 Robert Moses's parkways and William Levitt's Levittown (begun 1947 on Nassau potato fields) turned the farm country both accounts describe into one of the world's largest suburbs; the island now holds roughly 8 million people, with Nassau and Suffolk alone near 2.9 million. Collier's 1921 figures for bridges and tunnels are long superseded, and John F. Kennedy International Airport opened on Queens marshland in 1948. Of the old economy, the oyster and clam beds have largely collapsed, though North Fork farmland found a second life in wine after the first commercial vineyard was planted in 1973.
Written for this edition, 2026.