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Ellis Island

(Encyclopedia)Ellis Island, island, c.27 acres (10.9 hectares), in Upper New York Bay, SW of Manhattan island. Government-controlled since 1808, it was long the site of an arsenal and a fort, but most famously serv...

Handlin, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Handlin, Oscar, 1915–2011, American historian, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Brooklyn College (B.A., 1934). He received his Ph.D (1940) from Harvard and taught there from 1939 to 1984. Most of his work i...

monitorial system

(Encyclopedia)monitorial system, method of elementary education devised by British educators Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell during the 19th cent. to furnish schooling to the underprivileged even under conditions ...

glockenspiel

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Glockenspiel glockenspiel glŏkˈənspēl [key] [Ger.,=bell-play], percussion instrument. The medieval glockenspiel was a sort of miniature carillon (see bell), sometimes played mechanically b...

Dibdin, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Dibdin, Charles, 1745–1814, English songwriter and theatrical entrepreneur. His best-known songs are from his ballad operas, such as The Bells of Aberdovey from Liberty Hall (1785) and To Bachelors'...

Mathews, Max Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Mathews, Max Vernon, 1926–2011, American engineer known as the father of computer music, b. Columbus, Nebr., grad. California Institute of Technology (B.S., 1950), Massachusetts Institute of Technol...

campanile

(Encyclopedia)campanile kămpənēˈlē, Ital. kämpänēˈlā [key], Italian form of bell tower, constructed chiefly during the Middle Ages. Built in connection with a church or a town hall, it served as a belfry ...

Toussaint Louverture, François Dominique

(Encyclopedia)Toussaint Louverture or L'Ouverture, François Dominique fräNswäˈ dômēnēkˈ to͞osăNˈ lo͞ovĕrtürˈ [key], c.1744–1803, Haitian patriot and martyr. A self-educated slave freed shortly befo...

kremlin

(Encyclopedia)kremlin krĕmˈlĭn [key], Rus. kreml, citadel or walled center of several Russian cities; the most famous is in Moscow. During the Middle Ages, the kremlin served as an administrative and religious c...

L'Hôpital, Michel de

(Encyclopedia)L'Hôpital or L'Hospital, Michel de both: mēshĕlˈ də lōpētälˈ [key], c.1505–1573, chancellor of France under Catherine de' Medici. He was Catherine's chief collaborator in the policy of reli...