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Daniels, Jonathan Worth

(Encyclopedia)Daniels, Jonathan Worth, 1902–81, American newspaper editor and author, b. Raleigh, N.C. In 1925 he joined the staff of the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, edited by his father, Josephus Daniels. ...

Fisher, Carrie Frances

(Encyclopedia) Fisher, Carrie Frances , 1956-2016, American actress and author, b. Burbank, Ca. Fisher’s parents were singer Eddie Fisher and actress/dancer Debbie ...

Work Projects Administration

(Encyclopedia)Work Projects Administration (WPA), former U.S. government agency, established in 1935 by executive order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the Works Progress Administration; it was renamed th...

khaki

(Encyclopedia)khaki kăkˈē, käˈkē [key] [Hindi,=dust-colored], closely twilled cloth of linen or cotton, dyed a dust color. It was first used (1848) for uniforms for the English regiment of Sir Harry Burnett L...

Miller, Merton H.

(Encyclopedia)Miller, Merton H., 1923–2000, American economist, grad. Harvard, 1943, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1952. A professor at Carnegie-Mellon Univ. (1953–61) and the Univ. of Chicago (1961–93), he developed ...

Lever, Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Lever, Charles James lēˈvər [key], 1806–72, Irish novelist. He began his career as a practicing physician. His early novels appeared periodically in the Dublin University Magazine, whose editorsh...

Lahr, Bert

(Encyclopedia)Lahr, Bert, 1895–1967, American comic actor, b. New York City, originally named Irving Lahrheim. Lahr first performed in burlesque and vaudeville, where he became known for his morose facial express...

Missouri, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Missouri mĭzo͝orˈē, –ə [key], one of the midwestern states of the United States. It is bordered by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, across the Mississippi River (E), Arkansas (S), Okla...

Jaja

(Encyclopedia)Jaja jäˈjə [key], fl. 1869–87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the Nigerian interior. ...

Acheson, Dean Gooderham

(Encyclopedia)Acheson, Dean Gooderham ăchˈĭsən [key], 1893–1971, U.S. secretary of state (1949–53), b. Middletown, Conn., grad. Yale, Harvard Law School. He was (1919–21) private secretary to Louis Brande...

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