Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mount Holyoke College

(Encyclopedia)Mount Holyoke College hōlˈyōk [key], at South Hadley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1836, opened 1837 as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary under Mary Lyon, rechartered as Mount Holyoke College 1893. Ther...

Gurney, A. R.

(Encyclopedia)Gurney, A. R. (Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr.), 1930–2017, American dramatist, b. Buffalo, N.Y., B.A. Williams College, 1952, M.F.A. Yale School of Drama, 1958. He is best known for often humorous anal...

dog racing

(Encyclopedia)dog racing, trials of speed between dogs. Now contested on oval tracks, the sport developed from the ancient practice of coursing, in which specially trained dogs chase game animals in the open field....

Eustis, William

(Encyclopedia)Eustis, William yo͞oˈstĭs [key], 1753–1825, U.S. government official, b. Cambridge, Mass. A surgeon in the patriot forces during the American Revolution, he later served (1801–5) in Congress as...

Tolman, Edward Chace

(Encyclopedia)Tolman, Edward Chace, 1886–1959, American psychologist, b. West Newton, Mass., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1911; Ph. D. Harvard, 1915. He spent most of his academic career at the Un...

Pynchon, John

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, John pĭnˈchən [key], c.1626–1703, American colonist and merchant, b. England; son of William Pynchon. He emigrated to Massachusetts Bay colony with his father in 1630. When his father re...

Woodward, Robert Burns

(Encyclopedia)Woodward, Robert Burns, 1917–80, American chemist and educator, b. Boston, grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B., 1936; Ph.D., 1937). He taught at Harvard from 1938, becoming Donner prof...

Taconic Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Taconic Mountains təkŏnˈĭk [key], range of the Appalachian Mts., extending c.150 mi (240 km) north-south between the Green Mts. and the Hudson Valley along parts of New York's border with Vermont,...

Belknap, Jeremy

(Encyclopedia)Belknap, Jeremy bĕlˈnăp [key], 1744–98, American historian, b. Boston. A Congregational minister, he wrote history out of antiquarian interest, but showed great diligence and skill in research an...

Cotton, John

(Encyclopedia)Cotton, John, 1584–1652, Puritan clergyman in England and Massachusetts, b. Derbyshire, educated at Cambridge. Imbued with Puritan doctrines, he won many followers during his 20 years as vicar of th...