A new and exciting site is now available to all who seek more knowledge, history and information about the great state of Alabama. 

Jimmy Buf­fett, Wilson Pickett and Hank Williams made it. So did Willie Mays, Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan, as well as barbecue, catfish and kudzu. Those people and topics have articles in the online Encyclopedia of Alabama, which offers articles on Alabama's cul­ture, history and environ­ment, many of them illus­trated with photos and linked to related articles. "I think it's a great asset and a great tool for our state," state school Superinten­dent Joe Morton said. He added that he likes that the articles are fact-checked by editors, who are based at Auburn University.

 Some articles in the free online encyclopedia, which was devel­oped by the Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn, cover broad topics, such as segregation, agriculture in Alabama and the modern civil rights movement. Some articles deal with widely known events and people, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, Scottsboro trials of the 1930s, Mar­tin Luther King Jr. and George Wallace. Others cover less well-known topics and people, such as Lane cake, a dessert made with eggs, butter, sugar, raisins and whiskey, and the Yuchi, a tribe who lived in Alabama until the 1830s, when they were removed by force to Ok­lahoma. Editors of the encyclopedia ex­pect to post the 1,000th article by May. Managing editor Pat Kaetz said the encyclopedia adds about 15 articles a month. The staff recruited and still is recruiting a mix of rec­ognized authorities and up-and­coming scholars to write articles, said encyclopedia editor Jeff Jake­man.