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Saint Lawrence, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Saint Lawrence, Gulf of, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.100,000 sq mi (259,000 sq km), SE Canada, extending c.250 mi (400 km) from the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River to Newfoundland on the east. At i...

Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich yōˈhän hīnˈrĭkh pĕsˌtälôtˈsē [key], 1746–1827, Swiss educational reformer, b. Zürich. His theories laid the foundation of modern elementary education. He stu...

Hemingway, Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Hemingway, Ernest, 1899–1961, American novelist and short-story writer, b. Oak Park, Ill. one of the great American writers of the 20th cent. Hemingway's fiction usually focuses on people living ...

Clay, Clement Claiborne

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Clement Claiborne, 1816–82, U.S. Senator (1853–61), b. Huntsville, Ala. A legislator and then a judge in his native state, he was twice elected to the U.S. Senate and became an ardent defend...

Jolson, Al

(Encyclopedia)Jolson, Al jōlˈsən [key], 1888–1950, American entertainer, whose original name was Asa Yoelson, b. Russia. He emigrated to the United States c.1895. The son of a rabbi, Jolson first planned to be...

Montmartre

(Encyclopedia)Montmartre môNmärˈtrə [key] [Fr.,=hill of the martyrs], hill in Paris, on the right bank of the Seine River. The highest point of Paris, it is topped by the Church of Sacré-Cœur. Parts of the an...

Smith, Bessie

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Bessie, 1894–1937, American singer, b. Chattanooga, Tenn. About 1910 Smith became the protégée of Gertrude (Ma) Rainey, one of the earliest b...

Devils Tower National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Devils Tower National Monument, 1,347 acres (546 hectares), overlooking the Belle Fourche River, NE Wyo.; it was the first designated U.S. national monument (1906). Devils Tower, 865 ft (264 m) high a...

Harris, Julie

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Julie, 1925–2013, American actress, b. Grosse Point, Mich. Harris made her New York debut in It's a Gift (1945). Her versatility and power won her enormous critical acclaim, and she appeared...

Offenbach, Jacques Levy

(Encyclopedia)Offenbach, Jacques Levy ôˈfənbäk, Fr. zhäk lāvēˈ ôfĕnbäkˈ [key], 1819–80, French composer, b. Cologne. The son of a cantor, he went to Paris to study at the conservatory and in 1849 beca...

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