Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

West, Dame Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)West, Dame Rebecca, 1892–1983, English novelist and critic, b. Ireland as Cicily Isabel Fairfield. West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. At various times sh...

Fairchild, Cicely

(Encyclopedia)Fairchild, Cicely: see West, Dame Rebecca.

Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)Rebecca or Rebekahboth: rbk´ [key], wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob. One day, as was her custom, she drew water at the city well; while there she showed kindness to Eliezer, Abraham's servant...

Anderson, Dame Judith

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Dame Judith, 1898–1992, British actress, b. Adelaide, S. Australia, originally named Frances Margaret Anderson. She made her debut in Sydney in 1915 and by 1924 had become celebrated for h...

Gratz, Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)Gratz, Rebecca grts [key], 1781–1869, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; daughter of Michael Gratz. Well known for her philanthropies in Philadelphia, she is remembered chiefly as the proba...

Davis, Rebecca Harding

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Rebecca Harding, 1831–1910, American novelist, b. Washington, Pa.; mother of Richard Harding Davis. Her early nonfiction pieces, particularly those collected under the title Life in the Iron ...

Dench, Dame Judi

(Encyclopedia)Dench, Dame Judi joo´d dnch [key], 1934–, British actress, b. York, England, as Judith Olivia Dench. She studied at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, London, made her de...

Notre-Dame de Paris

(Encyclopedia)Notre-Dame de Paris nô´tr-däm d pär´ [key] [Fr.,=Our Lady of Paris], cathedral church of Paris, a noble achievement of early Gothic architecture in France. It stands upon the Île de la Cit...

West, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)West, Benjamin, 1738–1820, American historical painter who worked in England. He was born in Springfield, Pa., in a house that is now a memorial museum at Swarthmore College. After some instruction ...

West, Franz

(Encyclopedia)West, Franz, 1947–2012, Austrian artist, known especially for his eccentric and fanciful sculpture, studied Academy of Applied Arts, Vienna. He first became known in the 1970s for his adaptives, rel...