Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

86 results found

Wilkens, Lenny

(Encyclopedia)Wilkens, Lenny (Leonard Randolph Wilkens), 1937–, American basketball player and coach, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. After playing at Providence College, he joined the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketbal...

Rhode Island, state, United States

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Rhode Island, smallest state in the United States, located in New England; bounded by Massachusetts (N and E), the Atlantic Ocean (S), and Connecticut (W). Until well into the 20th cent. ...

Great Slave Lake

(Encyclopedia)Great Slave Lake, second largest lake of Canada, c.10,980 sq mi (28,400 sq km), Northwest Territories, named for the Slave (Dogrib), a tribe of Native Americans. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and from ...

Lovecraft, H. P.

(Encyclopedia)Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips Lovecraft), 1890–1937, American writer, b. Providence, R.I. A master of Gothic horror, fantasy, and science fiction of a most rococo variety, he is particularly not...

Woodcock, Leonard Freel

(Encyclopedia)Woodcock, Leonard Freel, 1911–2000, American labor leader, b. Providence, R.I. In 1933 he went to work as a machine assembler at the Detroit Gear and Machine Co., where he joined a union that became...

Wright, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Wright, Harry (Wiliam Henry Wright), 1835–95, English-American baseball player and manager, b. Sheffield, England. His father, a professional cricket player, moved the family to New York to join the...

Yates, Richard, American fiction writer

(Encyclopedia)Yates, Richard, 1926–92, American fiction writer, b. Yonkers, N.Y. A subtle and painstaking literary craftsman who has often been considered a “writers' writer,” Yates frequently chronicles the ...

McCarthy, Cormac

(Encyclopedia)McCarthy, Cormac, 1933–2023, American novelist, b. Providence, R.I. He grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., moved to the Southwest in 1974, and since then mai...

Woonsocket

(Encyclopedia)Woonsocket wo͞onsŏkˈĭt, wo͝on– [key], city (1990 pop. 43,877), Providence co., N R.I., on both sides of the Blackstone River; settled c.1666, set off from Cumberland 1867, inc. as a city 1888. ...

Gorton, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Gorton, Samuel, c.1592–1677, Anglo-American religious leader, founder of Warwick, R.I., b. near Manchester, England. Seeking religious freedom, he emigrated to America (1637) but, because of his uno...
 

Browse by Subject