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Key, Francis Scott

(Encyclopedia)Key, Francis Scott kē [key], 1779–1843, American poet, author of the Star-Spangled Banner, b. present Carroll co., Md. A lawyer, he was U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia (1833–41). His w...

Preston, John Smith

(Encyclopedia)Preston, John Smith, 1809–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Abingdon, Va. He practiced law at Abingdon and Columbia, S.C., but made his fortune operating a Louisiana sugar p...

Poor, Henry Varnum

(Encyclopedia)Poor, Henry Varnum, 1888–1970, American painter, b. Chapman, Kans. Poor's lyrical still lifes, portraits, and landscapes are simply painted in many media. He painted murals in fresco for the Dept. o...

Takoma Park

(Encyclopedia)Takoma Park təkōˈmə [key], city (1990 pop. 16,700), Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, W central Md., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; inc. 1890. It is the international headquarters...

Wilson, Edmund Beecher

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edmund Beecher, 1856–1939, American zoologist, b. Geneva, Ill., grad. Yale (Ph.B., 1878), Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1881). He taught at Bryn Mawr (1885–91) and at Columbia (1891–1928), where...

Wexler, Nancy

(Encyclopedia)Wexler, Nancy, 1945–, American geneticist and neuropsychologist, b. Washington, D.C., Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan, 1974. After her mother was diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 1968, her father, the...

Wateree

(Encyclopedia)Wateree wôtərēˈ [key], river, c.395 mi (635 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge, W N.C., as the Catawba River and flowing E past Hickory and then S past Charlotte into central N S.C. (becoming the ...

Blue Mountains, United States

(Encyclopedia)Blue Mountains, uplifted, eroded part of the Columbia Plateau, c.6,500 ft (1,980 m) high, NE Oreg. and SE Wash. Lava flows cover much of the surface. The upper, wooded slopes are used for lumbering. R...

Baldwin, James Mark

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, James Mark, 1861–1934, American psychologist, b. Columbia, S.C., grad. Princeton (B.A., 1884; Ph.D., 1889). He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Toronto (1889–93), psychology at Princeton...

Renwick, James

(Encyclopedia)Renwick, James, 1818–95, American architect, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1836. His design for Grace Church (1843–46) in New York City was followed by that for St. Patrick's Cathedral; he was...