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Higden, Ranulf

(Encyclopedia)Higden, Ranulf, d. c.1364, English chronicler. He wrote the Polychronicon, a universal history, interesting chiefly for its display of the geographical, scientific, and historical knowledge of its tim...

Natives, North American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, North American, peoples who occupied North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th cent. They have long been known as Indians because of the belief prevalent at the time of Co...

Muir, John

(Encyclopedia)Muir, John, 1838–1914, American naturalist, b. Dunbar, Scotland, studied at the Univ. of Wisconsin. He came to the United States in 1849 and settled in California in 1868. In recognition of his effo...

Eaton, John

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, John, 1829–1906, American educator, b. Sutton, N.H., grad. Dartmouth, 1854. After serving as a school principal in Cleveland, Ohio, and as superintendent of schools in Toledo, he enrolled at ...

Chamberlain, John

(Encyclopedia)Chamberlain, John, 1927–2011, American sculptor, b. Rochester, Ind. In the late 1950s, Chamberlain became known for his welded abstract assemblages of smashed automobile parts and colored scrap meta...

Winter, William

(Encyclopedia)Winter, William, 1836–1917, American drama critic, biographer, and poet, b. Gloucester, Mass., grad. Harvard Law School, 1857. A member of the literary bohemians who met in Pfaff's Cellar in New Yor...

Mitchel, John

(Encyclopedia)Mitchel, John, 1815–75, Irish revolutionist and journalist. A practicing lawyer, Mitchel contributed articles to the Nation (Dublin) and the United Irishman, which he founded in 1848, calling for re...

Leverett, John

(Encyclopedia)Leverett, John lĕvˈərĭt [key], 1616–79, American colonial governor, b. Boston, England. He went to Boston, Mass., with his father in 1633, but went back (1644) to England to serve in the parliam...

Irving, John

(Encyclopedia)Irving, John, 1942–, American writer, b. Exeter, N.H. His mixture of wild plot strategies and eccentric characters brought him to wide attention with his fourth novel, The World According to Garp (1...

Durkee, John

(Encyclopedia)Durkee, John dûrˈkē [key], 1728–82, American pioneer and Revolutionary officer, b. Windham, Conn. Durkee, a leading member of the Connecticut Sons of Liberty, led the group that forced Jared Inge...