Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

The Pas

(Encyclopedia)The Pas päz, pä [key], town (1991 pop. 6,166), W Man., Canada, on the Saskatchewan River. Founded as a fur-trading post, it became in 1920 the starting point and headquarters of the Hudson Bay Railw...

Hepburn, William Peters

(Encyclopedia)Hepburn, William Peters, 1833–1916, American legislator, b. Wellsville, Ohio. He was raised in Iowa and entered law there. He was a Civil War cavalry officer. From 1881 to 1887 he served as a Republ...

Solent, The

(Encyclopedia)Solent, The sōˈlənt [key], channel, c.30 mi (50 km) long and 3⁄4 to 5 mi (1.2–8 km) wide, between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, S England. It serves as an anchorage for ships entering Southa...

Harrison, Benjamin, political leader in the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Benjamin, 1726?–1791, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Charles City co., Va. As a member (1749–75) of the house of burgesses, he...

White, Walter Francis

(Encyclopedia)White, Walter Francis, 1893–1955, American civil-rights leader, b. Atlanta, Ga., grad. Atlanta Univ., 1916. From 1931 until his death he was secretary of the National Association for the Advancement...

Alien and Sedition Acts

(Encyclopedia)Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798, four laws enacted by the Federalist-controlled U.S. Congress, allegedly in response to the hostile actions of the French Revolutionary government on the seas and in the ...

Pinter, Harold

(Encyclopedia)Pinter, Harold, 1930–2008, English dramatist. Born in Hackney in London's East End, the son of an English tailor of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, he studied at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic...

South Dakota State University

(Encyclopedia)South Dakota State University, at Brookings; land-grant support; coeducational; chartered 1883 as Dakota Agricultural College, opened 1884. In 1907 it became South Dakota State College of Agriculture ...

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, established in 1805, incorporated in 1806. It is supported by private endowment. The academy grew out of a proposal by Charles Willson Peale for an...

Hayes, Rutherford Birchard

(Encyclopedia)Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822–93, 19th President of the United States (1877–81), b. Delaware, Ohio, grad. Kenyon College, 1843, and Harvard law school, 1845. He became a moderately successful l...