Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hearst, William Randolph

(Encyclopedia)Hearst, William Randolph, 1863–1951, American journalist and publisher, b. San Francisco. A flamboyant, highly controversial figure, Hearst was nonetheless an intelligent and extremely competent new...

communistic settlements

(Encyclopedia)communistic settlements, communities practicing common ownership of goods. Communistic settlements were known in ancient and medieval times, but the flowering of such groups occurred in the 19th cent....

Great Depression

(Encyclopedia)Great Depression, in U.S. history, the severe economic crisis generally considered to have been precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929. Although it shared the basic characteristics of oth...

American Bar Association

(Encyclopedia)American Bar Association (ABA), voluntary organization of lawyers admitted to the bar of any state. Founded (1878) largely through the efforts of the Connecticut Bar Association, it is devoted to impr...

Folger, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Folger, Peter fōlˈjər [key], 1617–90, British settler on Nantucket. He was associated with Thomas Mayhew on Martha's Vineyard, becoming missionary, schoolmaster, and surveyor. He moved to Nantuck...

Olivier, Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Olivier, Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron, 1859–1943, British colonial administrator. Olivier was one of the first members of the Fabian Society, contributing to the famous Fabian Essays (1889). He...

Hughes, Charles Evans

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Charles Evans hyo͞oz [key], 1862–1948, American statesman and jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1910–16), U.S. secretary of state (1921–25), and 11th chief justice of...

Chinese exclusion

(Encyclopedia)Chinese exclusion, policy of prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States; initiated in 1882. From the time of the U.S. acquisition of California (1848) there had been a large infl...

Persson, Göran

(Encyclopedia)Persson, Göran yöˈrän pĕrsˈsôn [key], 1949–, Swedish politician, prime minister (1996–2006). A member of the Social Democratic party, he was first elected to parliament in 1979, serving unt...

Nervo, Amado

(Encyclopedia)Nervo, Amado ämäˈᵺō nārˈvō [key], 1870–1919, Mexican poet. Known as the “monk of poetry,” he studied for the priesthood but abandoned it for writing. An intimate friend of Rubén Darío...