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Antirent War

(Encyclopedia)Antirent War, in U.S. history, tenant uprising in New York state. When Stephen Van Rensselaer, owner of Rensselaerswyck, died in 1839, his heirs attempted to collect unpaid rents. Tenants on the estat...

Croker, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Croker, Richard, 1841–1922, American politician, head of Tammany Hall from 1886 to 1902, b. Co. Cork, Ireland. He became prominent as Democratic leader of New York City's East Side and as an aide of...

Schenectady

(Encyclopedia)Schenectady skənĕkˈtədē [key], city (1990 pop. 65,566), seat of Schenectady co., E central N.Y., on the Mohawk River and Erie Canal; founded 1661 by Arent Van Curler, inc. 1798. The General Elect...

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, founded 1888, one of the world's foremost orchestras. It performs at the Royal Concertbegouw [concert building], Amsterdam, Netherlands, designed by Adolf Leonard van Ge...

Oldenburg, Claes

(Encyclopedia)Oldenburg, Claes klăs [key], 1929–, Swedish-American artist, b. Stockholm, raised Chicago, studied at Yale, moved to New York 1956. Usually considered part of the pop art movement, Oldenburg explor...

Vlaminck, Maurice de

(Encyclopedia)Vlaminck, Maurice de mōrēsˈ də vlämăNkˈ [key], 1876–1958, French painter, writer, and printmaker. At first an avid racing cyclist, he supported himself (c.1900) as a musician and taught himse...

Woodbury, Levi

(Encyclopedia)Woodbury, Levi, 1789–1851, American cabinet officer and jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1845–51), b. Hillsboro, co., N.H. Important as a politician and jurist in New Hampshire...

Boucicault, Dion

(Encyclopedia)Boucicault, Dion bo͞oˈsĭkō [key], 1822?–1890, Anglo-Irish dramatist and actor. At 19 he had success with his play London Assurance at Covent Garden, London. In 1853 he went to the United States ...

Montmartre

(Encyclopedia)Montmartre môNmärˈtrə [key] [Fr.,=hill of the martyrs], hill in Paris, on the right bank of the Seine River. The highest point of Paris, it is topped by the Church of Sacré-Cœur. Parts of the an...

liberal arts

(Encyclopedia)liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and...