Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wilson, August

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, August, 1945–2005, American playwright and poet, b. Pittsburgh as Frederick August Kittel, Jr. Largely self-educated, Wilson first attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, ...

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

(Encyclopedia)Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793–1864, American ethnologist, b. near Albany, N.Y. He gave enormous impetus to the study of Native American culture and may be regarded as the foremost pioneer in Native ...

Frost, Arthur Burdett

(Encyclopedia)Frost, Arthur Burdett, 1851–1928, American illustrator and cartoonist, b. Philadelphia; pupil of Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He worked chiefly in New York City and be...

Glass, Montague Marsden

(Encyclopedia)Glass, Montague Marsden, 1877–1934, American humorist and playwright, b. England, educated at the College of the City of New York and at New York Univ. He won fame for his humorous delineations of A...

Hayes, Roland

(Encyclopedia)Hayes, Roland, 1887–1976, American tenor, b. Curryville, Ga. The son of a former slave, Hayes studied at Fisk Univ. and with private teachers in Boston and in Europe. As one of the foremost interpre...

Fisk University

(Encyclopedia)Fisk University, at Nashville, Tenn.; coeducational; founded 1865, opened 1866, and chartered 1867. It became a university in 1967. Fisk, long an outstanding African-American school, is open to all qu...

Yuman

(Encyclopedia)Yuman yo͞oˈmən [key], branch of Native American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, or family, of North America (including Mexico) and Central America. See Native American lan...

Brandeis University

(Encyclopedia)Brandeis University, at Waltham, Mass.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1948. Although Brandeis was founded by members of the American Jewish community, the university operates as an independent, ...

Bauer, Harold

(Encyclopedia)Bauer, Harold bouˈər [key], 1873–1951, Anglo-American pianist. He was first a successful violinist, but in 1892 he studied the piano with Paderewski and then earned international recognition as a ...

frontier

(Encyclopedia)frontier, in U.S. history, the border area of settlement of Europeans and their descendants; it was vital in the conquest of the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The importance of the westwa...
 

Browse by Subject