Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Say, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Say, Thomas, 1787–1843, American naturalist, b. Philadelphia. He went on collecting expeditions to Georgia and Florida and, with Stephen H. Long, to the Rocky Mts. and up the Mississippi and Minneso...

Feke, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Feke, Robert fēk [key], c.1705–c.1750, early American portrait painter, b. Oyster Bay, N.Y. He practiced in Newport, R.I., New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. He probably studied in Europe for...

Burton, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Burton, Robert, 1577–1640, English clergyman and scholar, b. Leicestershire, educated at Oxford. He served as librarian at Christ Church, Oxford, all his life; in addition he was vicar of St. Thomas...

Willing, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Willing, Thomas, 1731–1821, American merchant and financier, b. Philadelphia. He studied law in London. Returning to Philadelphia in 1749, he entered his father's business and later established with...

Hardy, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hardy, Thomas, 1840–1928, English novelist and poet, b. near Dorchester, one of the great English writers of the 19th cent. The son of a stonemason, he derived a love of music from his father and a ...

Greene, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Greene, Robert, 1558?–1592, English author. His short romances, written in the manner of Lyly's Euphues, include Pandosto (1588), from which Shakespeare drew the plot for A Winter's Tale, and Menaph...

Mills, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Mills, Robert, 1781–1855, American architect of the classic revival period, b. Charleston, S.C. From 1800 to 1820 he worked as an architect in Washington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, being associat...

Rymer, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Rymer, Thomas rīˈmər [key], 1643?–1713, English critic and historiographer. Educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, he was called to the bar in 1673 but turned his efforts instead to literature, es...

Thomas, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Edward, 1878–1917, English poet, b. London, studied at Oxford. Forced to earn a living for his young family, Thomas began his literary career writing prose: dozens of essays on a wide array ...

Berger, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Berger, Thomas bûrˈgər [key], 1924–2014, American novelist, b. Cincinnati, grad. Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1948). He is known for bitterly comic novels that often deal with the chasm he perceive...

Browse by Subject