Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Perkins, Frances

(Encyclopedia)Perkins, Frances, 1882–1965, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1933–45), b. Boston. She worked at Hull House, was executive secretary of the New York Consumers' League (1910–12) and of the New York Commi...

Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of, 1649–1709, Dutch statesman in England. He was William III's most trusted personal adviser. In 1677 he engaged in negotiating the marriage of William (then pr...

World Council of Churches

(Encyclopedia)World Council of Churches, an international, interdenominational organization of most major Protestant, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches; founded in Amsterdam in 1948, its headquarter...

Reign of Terror

(Encyclopedia)Reign of Terror, 1793–94, period of the French Revolution characterized by a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Directed by the Committee of Public Safety, the Revolutionary govern...

Frederick VII, king of Denmark

(Encyclopedia)Frederick VII, 1808–63, king of Denmark, duke of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg (1848–63), son and successor of Christian VIII. He accepted a liberal constitution in 1849 that ended the absolu...

fair

(Encyclopedia)fair, market exhibition at which producers, traders, and consumers meet either to barter or to buy and sell goods and services. Before the development of transportation and marketing, fairs furnished ...

Bergh, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bergh, Henry bûrg [key], 1811–88, American philanthropist, b. New York City. He founded (1866) the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This organization, the first of its kin...

national assembly

(Encyclopedia)national assembly, name of a number of past and present constituent or legislative bodies. In France, under the constitutions of the Fourth and Fifth republics, the lower house of parliament has been ...

Field, David Dudley

(Encyclopedia)Field, David Dudley, 1805–94, American lawyer and law reformer, b. Haddam, Conn.; brother of Cyrus W. Field and Stephen J. Field. He was graduated from Williams (1825), studied law in Albany and New...

Anna, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Anna (Anna Ivanovna) änˈnə ĭväˈnôvnə [key], 1693–1740, czarina of Russia (1730–40), daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter I (Peter the Great). On the death of her distant cousin, Peter II,...