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Gratz, Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)Gratz, Rebecca grăts [key], 1781–1869, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; daughter of Michael Gratz. Well known for her philanthropies in Philadelphia, she is remembered chiefly as the proba...

Knickerbocker

(Encyclopedia)Knickerbocker nĭkˈərbŏkˌər [key], term used almost synonymously with the adjective “Dutch” in respect to Dutch families and customs and the Dutch region of early New York state. A History of...

Jefferson, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Jefferson, Joseph, 1829–1905, American actor. He was the foremost of an old and distinguished family of English and American actors. Jefferson began his stage career as a child actor, and when the f...

Caldecott, Randolph

(Encyclopedia)Caldecott, Randolph kôlˈdəkət [key], 1846–86, one of the most popular late 19th-century English book illustrators. Born in Chester, he moved (1872) to London, where he began publishing illustrat...

Forbes-Robertson, Sir Johnston

(Encyclopedia)Forbes-Robertson, Sir Johnston, 1853–1937, English actor-manager. He was trained by Samuel Phelps, made his first appearance in 1874, and thereafter performed with the Bancrofts (1878), John Hare, a...

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...

literary frauds

(Encyclopedia)literary frauds, manuscripts that are presented to the public as works of famous authors but that are actually forgeries or imitations. Literary frauds are perpetrated for various reasons—occasional...

Brackenridge, Henry Marie

(Encyclopedia)Brackenridge, Henry Marie, 1786–1871, American writer, b. Pittsburgh; son of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806, he moved to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer and journ...

Montanism

(Encyclopedia)Montanism mŏnˈtənĭzəm [key], apocalyptic movement of the 2d cent. It arose in Phrygia (c.172) under the leadership of a certain Montanus and two female prophets, Prisca and Maximillia, whose entr...

More, Paul Elmer

(Encyclopedia)More, Paul Elmer, 1864–1937, American critic, educator, and philosopher, b. St. Louis. More taught Sanskrit and classical literature and then was a newspaper editor until 1914, after which he wrote ...

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