Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Levine, James

(Encyclopedia)Levine, James Lawrence, 1943–2021, American conductor, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. . Levine’s parents were both performers; his father had been a bandleade...

Hall of Fame for Great Americans

(Encyclopedia)Hall of Fame for Great Americans, national shrine, on the campus of Bronx Community College of the City Univ. of New York, Bronx, New York City; est. 1900. The Hall of Fame, a 630-ft (192-m) colonnade...

ocher

(Encyclopedia)ocher ōˈkər [key], mixture of varying proportions of iron oxide and clay, used as a pigment. It occurs naturally as yellow ocher (yellow or yellow-brown in color), the iron oxide being limonite, or...

Muncie

(Encyclopedia)Muncie mŭnˈsē [key], city (1990 pop. 71,035), seat of Delaware co., E Ind., on the White River; inc. 1854. It is a trade, processing, and manufacturing center. The city is in a fertile agricultural...

Erskine, John, American educator, author, and musician

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, John, 1879–1951, American educator, author, and musician, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1900; Ph.D., 1903). He taught first at Amherst (1903–9) and then at Columbia, becoming pr...

Tree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm

(Encyclopedia)Tree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm, 1853–1917, English actor-manager, whose original name was Herbert Draper Beerbohm. He was a half-brother of Max Beerbohm. His first success (1884) was as the curate in Th...

Nicolay, John George

(Encyclopedia)Nicolay, John George nĭkˈəlā [key], 1832–1901, biographer of Lincoln, b. Bavaria. In 1837 he was brought to the United States, and his family settled in Pike co., Ill. He worked on the Pittsfiel...

Bridgman, Laura

(Encyclopedia)Bridgman, Laura, 1829–89, the first blind and deaf person to be successfully educated, b. Hanover, N.H. Under the guidance of Dr. S. G. Howe, of the Perkins School for the Blind, she learned to read...

Phaeophyta

(Encyclopedia)Phaeophyta fēŏfˈətə [key], phylum (division) of the kingdom Protista consisting of those organisms commonly called brown algae. Many of the world's familiar seaweeds are members of Phaeophyta. Th...

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.

(Encyclopedia)Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. Linda Brown was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka because she was black. When, com...

Browse by Subject