Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kwan, Michelle Wingshan

(Encyclopedia)Kwan, Michelle Wingshan, 1980–, American figure skater, b. Torrance, Calif., In 1994 she won the silver medal at the U.S. National Championships and the gold medal in the World Junior Championships....

Lewis, Morgan

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Morgan, 1754–1844, American army officer and governor of New York (1804–7), b. New York City; son of Francis Lewis. After serving in the American Revolution, he held a variety of state offi...

Lawson, John

(Encyclopedia)Lawson, John, d. 1711, English explorer of North Carolina. He came to the Carolinas in 1700 and within the next few years traveled approximately 1,000 mi (1,600 km) through its unexplored parts. His d...

New England Primer

(Encyclopedia)New England Primer, famous American school book, first published before 1690. Its compiler was Benjamin Harris, an English printer who emigrated to Boston. This was the book from which most of the chi...

Bunyan, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bunyan, Paul, legendary American lumberjack. He was the hero of a series of “tall tales” popular through the timber country from Michigan westward. Bunyan was known for his fantastic strength and ...

Ade, George

(Encyclopedia)Ade, George, 1866–1944, American humorist and dramatist, b. Kentland, Ind., grad. Purdue Univ., 1887. His newspaper sketches and books attracted attention for their racy and slangy idiom and for the...

Bernadette, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bernadette, Saint bûrnədĕtˈ [key], 1844–79, French peasant girl who reported seeing the Virgin Mary in apparitions at a grotto near Lourdes, her home, in 1858. She was born Marie Bernarde Soubir...

Verrazzano, Giovanni da

(Encyclopedia)Verrazzano, Giovanni da jōvänˈnē dä vĕrˌrätsäˈnō; vĕrˌəzäˈnō [key], c.1480–1527?, Italian navigator and explorer, in the service of France, possibly the first European to enter New ...

Willard, Frances Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Willard, Frances Elizabeth, 1839–98, American temperance leader and reformer, b. Churchville, N.Y., grad. Northwestern Female College, 1859. She was president of Evanston College for Ladies and dean...

Sherman, Stuart Pratt

(Encyclopedia)Sherman, Stuart Pratt, 1881–1926, American critic and editor, b. Anita, Iowa, grad. Williams, 1900, Ph.D. Harvard, 1906. Professor of English at the Univ. of Illinois from 1907 to 1924, he resigned ...
 

Browse by Subject