Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hampton University

(Encyclopedia)Hampton University, at Hampton, Va.; coeducational; founded 1868, chartered 1870 as a normal and agricultural school; known as Hampton Institute 1930–84. Founded by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, it was ...

Marsalis, Wynton

(Encyclopedia)Marsalis, Wynton märsălˈĭs [key], 1961–, American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, b. New Orleans. Born into a distinguished jazz family, he studied classical music at Juilliard. He joined A...

Raisin, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Raisin, river, 115 mi (185 km) long, rising in S Mich. and flowing E to Lake Erie at Monroe, Mich. After Detroit's surrender in the War of 1812, U.S. troops under Gen. James Winchester, sent to retake...

Curtis, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Charles, 1860–1936, Vice President of the United States (1929–33), b. near North Topeka, Kans. Of part Native American background, Curtis lived for three years on a Kaw reservation. After ...

Tlingit

(Encyclopedia)Tlingit tlĭngˈgĭt [key], group of related Native North American tribes, speaking a language that forms a branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The 14 divisions of t...

Varèse, Edgard

(Encyclopedia)Varèse, Edgard värĕzˈ [key], 1883–1965, French-American composer. In Paris he first studied mathematics and science but became more interested in music. He then studied composition with Roussel ...

Eskimo-Aleut

(Encyclopedia)Eskimo-Aleut, family of Native American languages consisting of Aleut (spoken on the Aleutian Islands and the Kodiak Peninsula) and Eskimo or Inuktitut (spoken in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberi...

Pomo

(Encyclopedia)Pomo, Native Americans of N California, belonging to the Hokan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Pomo were the most southerly Native Americans on the Cal...

Leinsdorf, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Leinsdorf, Erich ĕrˈĭkh līzˈdôrf, līntsˈ– [key], 1912–93, American conductor, b. Vienna. Leinsdorf studied at the Vienna state academy of music and in 1934 began his conducting career, ser...

Scruggs, Earl Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Scruggs, Earl Eugene, 1924–2012, American banjo player, b. Flint Hill, N.C. He developed a distinctive syncopated, three-finger style on the five-string banjo that changed the way it is played. From...

Browse by Subject