Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Clootz, Anacharsis

(Encyclopedia)Clootz or Cloots, Anacharsis änäkärsēsˈ klōts [key], 1755–94, French revolutionary, self-styled Orator of the Human Race. Born near Cleves and a member of the lesser German nobility, his given...

Gourlay, Robert Fleming

(Encyclopedia)Gourlay, Robert Fleming go͝orˈlē [key], 1778–1863, Scottish writer and agitator, b. Fifeshire. He emigrated to Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1817 and at Kingston attempted to establish himself as a l...

Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe

(Encyclopedia)Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1807–90, Mexican-American political and military leader, b. Monterey, Calif. He entered the Mexican military in 1824 and was appointed to the territorial legislature in 1...

Johnson, William Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, William Samuel, 1727–1819, American political leader and president of Columbia College (1787–1800), b. Stratford, Conn. A lawyer in Connecticut, he soon became a leading figure in the col...

Burnet, David Gouverneur

(Encyclopedia)Burnet, David Gouverneur gŭvˌəno͝orˈ bûrˈnĭt [key], 1788–1870, provisional president of Texas (1836), b. Newark, N.J.; son of William Burnet (1730–91). He went to Texas c.1817, and his leg...

women's clubs

(Encyclopedia)women's clubs, groups that offer social, recreational, and cultural activities for adult females. Particularly strong in the United States, they became an important part of American town and village l...

Worcester, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

Carroll, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Carroll, Charles, 1737–1832, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Annapolis, Md. After completing his education in France and England, he return...

Bond, Julian

(Encyclopedia)Bond, Julian (Horace Julian Bond), 1940–2015, U.S. civil-rights leader, b. Nashville, Tenn. As a student at Morehouse College, he participated in sit-ins at segregated Atlanta restaurants. He was a ...

Twain, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Twain, Mark, pseud. of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910, American author, b. Florida, Mo. As humorist, narrator, and social observer, Twain is unsurpassed in American literature. His novel The Ad...