Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Uri , canton, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Uri o͞oˈrē [key], canton (1993 pop. 35,500), 415 sq mi (1,075 sq km), central Switzerland, one of the Four Forest Cantons. Altdorf is the capital. The most sparsely populated of the Swiss cantons, ...

Price, Sterling

(Encyclopedia)Price, Sterling, 1809–67, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Prince Edward co., Va. After moving to Missouri, he practiced law and entered politics. He served in Congress (1844–46),...

Harvey, Fred

(Encyclopedia)Harvey, Fred (Frederick Henry Harvey), 1835–1901, Anglo-American entrepreneur and restauranteur, the father of America's hospitality industry, b. London. He sailed to New York City in 1850, worked i...

Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von styo͞oˈbən, Ger. frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm bärōnˈ fən shtoiˈbən [key], 1730–94, Prussian army officer, general in the American Revolution, b. Magdeburg....

luminism

(Encyclopedia)luminism lo͞oˈmĭnĭzˌəm [key], American art movement of the 19th cent. Luminism was an outgrowth of the Hudson River school. In its concern for capturing the effects of light and atmosphere it is...

Menninger, Karl Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Menninger, Karl Augustus mĕnˈĭngər [key], 1893–1990, and William Claire Menninger, 1899–1966, American psychiatrists, brothers, b. Topeka, Kans. The Menninger Clinic, conceived with the idea o...

Morris, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Roger, 1727–94, Loyalist in the American Revolution, b. Yorkshire, England. He came (1755) to America as aide-de-camp to Gen. Edward Braddock and fought under James Wolfe at Quebec. After hi...

Maitland, Frederic William

(Encyclopedia)Maitland, Frederic William mātˈlənd [key], 1850–1906, English legal historian, educated at Cambridge. A thorough scholar, he founded the Selden Society for the publication of early English docume...

Schley, Winfield Scott

(Encyclopedia)Schley, Winfield Scott slī [key], 1839–1911, American naval officer, b. Frederick co., Md. After serving with Union naval forces in the Civil War, he held various naval posts. In 1884 he commanded ...

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

(Encyclopedia)Vietnam Veterans Memorial, war memorial in Washington, D.C., built 1982. Designed by the American sculptor and architect Maya Ying Lin, it is a sloping, V-shaped, 493-ft (150-m) wall of highly polishe...