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Carter, Elliott Cook, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Elliott Cook, Jr., 1908–2012, American composer, b. New York City. Carter is considered by many to be the most important late-20th-century American composer. Mentored early in life by Charle...

Muallaqat

(Encyclopedia)Muallaqat mo͞oälˌäkätˈ [key], Pre-Islamic Arabic anthology compiled by the scholar Hammad al Rawiya (d. c.775). comprised of poems that were written in gold letters and hung on the walls of the ...

Arliss, George

(Encyclopedia)Arliss, George, 1868–1946, English actor. He first appeared on the stage in 1887. In 1901 he came to the United States with Mrs. Patrick Campbell to appear in the Belasco production of The Darling o...

George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George III, 1738–1820, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760–1820); son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, and grandson of George II, whom he succeeded. He was also elector (and later king) of...

Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

(Encyclopedia)Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, system of navigation channels, 234 mi (377 km) long, Ala. and Miss., connecting the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River and, via the Mobile River, with the Gulf of M...

Cooney, Joan Ganz

(Encyclopedia)Cooney, Joan Ganz, 1929–, American television producer, b. Phoenix, Ariz. After graduating (1951) from the Univ. of Arizona, Cooney worked as a newspaper reporter and television publicist for ten ye...

Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich

(Encyclopedia)Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich əlyĭksänˈdər pərfēˈrĭvĭch bôrôdyēnˈ [key], 1833–87, Russian composer, chemist, and physician. He studied at the academy of medicine in St. Petersburg, wh...

Burritt, Elihu

(Encyclopedia)Burritt, Elihu, 1810–79, American reformer, b. New Britain, Conn. A blacksmith, he studied mathematics, languages, and geography and became known as “the learned blacksmith.” Profoundly idealist...

Mayflower Compact

(Encyclopedia)Mayflower Compact, in U.S. colonial history, an agreement providing for the temporary government of Plymouth Colony. The compact was signed (1620) on board the Mayflower by the adult male passengers; ...

Graham, Otto Everett, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Graham, Otto Everett, Jr., 1921–2003, American football player and coach, b. Waukegan, Ill. He was an All-American football and basketball player at Northwestern Univ. before he joined the Cleveland...