Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Knights of Columbus

(Encyclopedia)Knights of Columbus, American Roman Catholic society for men, founded (1882) at New Haven, Conn. (where its headquarters are still located), by Father Michael J. McGivney. Its mission is to encourage ...

Bowman, Isaiah

(Encyclopedia)Bowman, Isaiah bōˈmən [key], 1878–1950, American geographer, b. Waterloo, Ont., B.S. Harvard, 1905, Ph.D. Yale, 1909. He taught geography at Yale (1905–15) and was director (1915–35) of the A...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

missions

(Encyclopedia)missions, term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is...

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, philanthropic institution founded in 1994 by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to improve the lives of the poor throughout the world, primarily th...

Benedict XIV

(Encyclopedia)Benedict XIV, 1675–1758, pope (1740–58), an Italian (b. Bologna) named Prospero Lambertini; successor of Clement XII. Long before his pontificate he was renowned for his learning and wrote a class...

Charles, William

(Encyclopedia)Charles, William, 1776–1820, American cartoonist, etcher, and engraver, b. Edinburgh, Scotland. He probably came to the United States to avoid prosecution for his satirical drawings. He is best know...

Hutchins, Robert Maynard

(Encyclopedia)Hutchins, Robert Maynard, 1899–1977, American educator, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied at Oberlin College, grad. Yale, 1921, taught in the Yale law school (1925–27), and served as dean (1927–29). He...

fable

(Encyclopedia)fable, brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retainin...

Tappan, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Tappan, Arthur tăpˈən [key], 1786–1865, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He made a fortune in the dry-goods business in New York City and with his brother and partner Lewis Tappan gav...