Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jeffries, James J.

(Encyclopedia)Jeffries, James J., 1875–1953, American boxer, b. Carroll, Fairfield co., Ohio. He began boxing in 1896, and in 1899 he won the heavyweight championship from Robert Fitzsimmons at Coney Island in Ne...

arum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, a member of the arum family arum, common name for the Araceae, a plant family mainly composed of species of herbaceous terrestrial and epiphytic plants...

beat generation

(Encyclopedia)beat generation, term applied to certain American artists and writers who were popular during the 1950s. Essentially anarchic, members of the beat generation rejected traditional social and artistic f...

Berry, Wendell Erdman

(Encyclopedia)Berry, Wendell Erdman, 1934–, American farmer, environmentalist, and writer, b. Henry co., Ky., grad. Univ of Kentucky (B.A., 1956; M.A., 1957). He taught at various colleges including his alma mate...

bowls

(Encyclopedia)bowls, ancient sport (the bocce of Caesar's Rome is still played by Italians), especially popular in Great Britain and Australia, known as lawn bowls or bowling on the green in the United States. It w...

Linton, William James

(Encyclopedia)Linton, William James, 1812–97, Anglo-American wood engraver, author, and political reformer. In 1842 he began working as a wood engraver with John Orrin Smith and produced illustrations for the new...

Leonard, William Ellery

(Encyclopedia)Leonard, William Ellery, 1876–1944, American poet, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Boston Univ., 1899, Ph.D. Columbia, 1904. For many years he was professor of English at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Of his n...

Jerome, William Travers

(Encyclopedia)Jerome, William Travers, 1859–1934, American lawyer, b. New York City. Prominent in the cause of reform, he served (1894–95) on the Lexow commission to investigate political corruption and managed...

Jerrold, Douglas William

(Encyclopedia)Jerrold, Douglas William jĕrˈəld [key], 1803–57, English humorist and playwright. His plays Blackeyed Susan (1829) and Time Works Wonders (1845) were highly successful. Jerrold is best known, how...

Jevons, William Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Jevons, William Stanley jĕvˈənz [key], 1835–82, English economist and logician. After working in Australia as assayer to the mint, he taught at Owens College, Manchester, and University College, ...

Browse by Subject