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Vaillant, George Clapp

(Encyclopedia)Vaillant, George Clapp vălˈyănt [key], 1901–45, American archaeologist, b. Boston; grad. Harvard (B.A., 1922; Ph.D., 1927). At the American Museum of Natural History he became associate curator (...

Ayrshire cattle

(Encyclopedia)Ayrshire cattle rˈshēr, –shər [key], breed of dairy cattle originated in Scotland in the late 18th cent.; introduced into the United States in 1837. They are medium-sized and white mixed with red...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America

(Encyclopedia)National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York Cit...

Apted, Michael David

(Encyclopedia)Apted, Michael David, 1941-2021, British filmmaker, b. Aylesbury, Bucks, England. Apted began his career as a documentary filmmaker, beginning with the television program, Seven Up!, docum...

blackbird

(Encyclopedia)blackbird, common name in North America of a perching bird allied to the bobolink, the meadow lark, the oriole, and the grackle and belonging to the family Icteridae. The European blackbird, Turdus me...

Mathew, Theobald

(Encyclopedia)Mathew, Theobald, 1790–1856, Irish social worker and temperance leader, a Capuchin priest. Father Mathew spent many years working for the welfare and education of the poor. In 1838 he took a pledge ...

mastodon

(Encyclopedia)mastodon măsˈtədŏnˌ [key], name for a number of prehistoric mammals of the extinct genus Mammut, from which modern elephants are believed to have developed. The earliest known forms lived in the ...

bellflower, in botany

(Encyclopedia)bellflower or bluebell, name commonly used as a comprehensive term for members of the Campanulaceae, a family of chiefly herbaceous annuals or perennials of wide distribution, characteristically found...

calumet, peace pipe

(Encyclopedia)calumet [Fr.,=reed], name given by the French to the peace pipe used by the indigenous people of North America for smoking tobacco; it consisted of a long, feathered stem, with or without a pipe bowl....