Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gallup, George Horace

(Encyclopedia)Gallup, George Horace, 1901–84, American public opinion statistician, originator of the Gallup poll, b. Jefferson, Iowa. After teaching journalism at Drake Univ. (1929–31) and at Northwestern Univ...

Wayne, John

(Encyclopedia)Wayne, John, 1907–79, American movie actor, b. Winterset, Iowa, as Marion Michael Morrison. An enduringly popular movie star from his debut in 1930, Wayne combined the toughness necessary to play we...

Berlinghieri, Bonaventura

(Encyclopedia)Berlinghieri, Bonaventura bôˌnävĕnto͞oˈrä bĕrˌlĭng-gyāˈrē [key], fl. 1235–44, Italian painter. Originally from Lucca, he was the most gifted of a family of Lombardian painters. His Scen...

Moro, Aldo

(Encyclopedia)Moro, Aldo älˈdō môˈrō [key], 1916–78, Italian political leader. A lawyer, he entered national politics in 1946, when he was elected to the constituent assembly as a member of the Christian De...

Glaspell, Susan

(Encyclopedia)Glaspell, Susan glăsˈpĕl [key], 1876–1948, American author, b. Davenport, Iowa, grad. Drake Univ. She married the playwright George Cram Cook (1913) and with him organized (1915) the Provincetown...

Ponselle, Rosa

(Encyclopedia)Ponselle, Rosa pŏnzĕlˈ [key], 1897–1981, American operatic soprano, b. Meriden, Conn. First appearing in vaudeville, she made her debut (1918) at the Metropolitan Opera in Verdi's La forza del de...

Calef, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Calef, Robert kāˈləf [key], 1648–1719, known primarily as author of More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700). A Boston cloth merchant, probably born in England, he bitterly attacked Cotton Math...

Morris, Wright

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Wright (Wright Marion Morris), 1910–98, American writer, b. Central City, Nebr. He was for many years professor of English at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State Univ.). Fro...

Saint Augustine

(Encyclopedia)Saint Augustine mətănˈzəs [key], also a national monument, was built by Spain in 1742. Other places of interest in the city are the old schoolhouse, the house reputed to be the oldest in the Unite...

Carolina campaign

(Encyclopedia)Carolina campaign, 1780–81, of the American Revolution. After Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, he returned to New York, leaving a British force under Cornwallis to subordinate the Carolina...