Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mason, John, c.1600–1672, American colonial military commander

(Encyclopedia)Mason, John, c.1600–1672, American colonial military commander, b. England. He was an army officer before emigrating (c.1630) to Massachusetts and then (1635) to Windsor, Conn. When the Pequot threa...

Marin, John

(Encyclopedia)Marin, John mărˈĭn [key], 1870–1953, American landscape painter, b. Rutherford, N.J. After a year at Stevens Institute of Technology, he worked for four years as an architectural draftsman. At 28...

Krasner, Lee

(Encyclopedia)Krasner, Lee krăsˈnər, krăzˈ– [key], 1911–84, American artist, b. Brooklyn. She studied with Hans Hofmann and became a leading figure in abstract expressionism along with her husband, Jackson...

Johnson, Lady Bird

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912–2007, b. Karnack, Tex., as Claudia Alta Taylor. She married (1934) Lyndon B. Johnson and played an active role in his political career. As first lady (1963–69), she was th...

Kidder, Alfred Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Kidder, Alfred Vincent, 1885–1963, American archaeologist, b. Marquette, Mich., grad. Harvard (B.A. 1908; Ph.D. 1914). From 1915 to 1929 he conducted excavations at Pecos, N.Mex., for the Phillips A...

Killigrew, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Killigrew, Thomas kĭlˈəgro͞oˌ [key], 1612–83, English dramatist and theater manager, b. London. Before the closing of the theaters by the Puritans in 1642, he wrote several tragicomedies, inclu...

Harte, Bret

(Encyclopedia)Harte, Bret (Francis Brett Harte) härt [key], 1836–1902, American writer of short stories and humorous verse, b. Albany, N.Y. At 19 he went to California, where he tried his hand at teaching, clerk...

Hassam, Childe

(Encyclopedia)Hassam, Childe (Frederick Childe Hassam) chīld hăsˈəm [key], 1859–1935, American painter and printmaker, b. Boston, studied in Paris. With their flickering light and airy palette, Hassam's sprig...

Horney, Karen

(Encyclopedia)Horney, Karen, 1885–1952, American psychiatrist, b. Germany, M.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1913. She married Oscar Horney in 1909. Prior to her arrival (1932) in the United States, she was secretary of the ...

Girard, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Girard, Stephen jĭrärdˈ [key], 1750–1831, American merchant, banker, and philanthropist, b. Bordeaux, France. Girard went to sea and at the age of 23 was a captain. In 1776 he settled in Philadel...