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Austin, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Austin, Alfred, 1835–1913, English author, b. Leeds. Originally trained for a legal career, he eventually turned to writing and politics. From 1883–95 he edited the National Review. Although in 18...

Tappan, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Tappan, Lewis, 1788–1873, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He became a partner in his brother Arthur's New York mercantile house in 1828 and in 1841 founded the first agency for rating c...

Taylor, Bert Leston

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Bert Leston, 1866–1921, American newspaper columnist, b. Goshen, Mass. He worked for a number of newspapers before establishing his column, “A Line o' Type or Two,” signed B. L. T., ...

Billings, Josh

(Encyclopedia)Billings, Josh, pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw, 1818–85, American humorist and lecturer, b. Lanesboro, Mass. After a roving life as farmer, explorer, and coal miner, he settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ...

Bliss, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Bliss, Daniel, 1823–1916, American missionary, b. Franklin co., Vt., founder of Syrian Protestant College (now the American Univ. of Beirut) in Lebanon. He went to Syria in 1855, returning in 1862 t...

Astaire, Fred

(Encyclopedia)Astaire, Fred əstârˈ [key], 1899–1987, American dancer, actor, and singer, b. Omaha, Nebr., as Frederick Austerlitz. After 1911 he and his sister Adele (1896–1981), b. Adele Marie Austerlitz, f...

DiMaggio, Joe

(Encyclopedia)DiMaggio, Joe (Joseph Paul DiMaggio) dĭmăjˈēōˌ, –mäjˈēōˌ [key], 1914–99, American baseball player, b. Martinez, Calif. One of the most charismatic of 20th-century sports figures, “Jol...

Drew, John

(Encyclopedia)Drew, John, 1827–62, American actor, b. Dublin. After establishing a reputation as a comedian in the 1840s, he devoted his energies to the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, where he maintained a fa...

Sartain, John

(Encyclopedia)Sartain, John särtānˈ [key], 1808–97, American engraver, b. London. Shortly after his arrival in the United States in 1830, he received important commissions for prints after paintings by leading...

O'Keeffe, Georgia

(Encyclopedia)O'Keeffe, Georgia ōkēfˈ [key], 1887–1986, American painter, b. Sun Prairie, Wis. After working briefly as a commercial artist in Chicago, O'Keeffe abandoned painting until she began the study of ...