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Smithsonian Institution

(Encyclopedia)Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, mainly at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under the terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the Unit...

Hampton University

(Encyclopedia)Hampton University, at Hampton, Va.; coeducational; founded 1868, chartered 1870 as a normal and agricultural school; known as Hampton Institute 1930–84. Founded by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, it was ...

IRA, abbreviation

(Encyclopedia)IRA. 1 In Irish history, see Irish Republican Army. 2 In economics, see Individual Retirement Account. ...

Alabama, University of

(Encyclopedia)Alabama, University of, main campus at Tuscaloosa; state supported, coeducational; chartered 1820, opened 1831. An experimental station of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the state natural history museum, t...

Eutropius, Roman historian

(Encyclopedia)Eutropius yo͞otrōˈpēəs [key], fl. 4th cent. a.d., Roman historian, a protégé of the emperors Julian and Valens. His Breviarium ab urbe condita (10 books) is a summary of Roman history. ...

federalism

(Encyclopedia)federalism. 1 In political science, see federal government. 2 In U.S. history, see states' rights. ...

Wodrow, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Wodrow, Robert wo͝odˈrō [key], 1679–1734, Scottish ecclesiastical historian. His principal work is The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution (...

Sprat, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sprat, Thomas, 1635–1713, English author, bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. His poem on the death of Oliver Cromwell was published in Dryden's Miscellany (1659). Sprat is best remembered ...

Bielski, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Bielski, Martin, Pol. Marcin Bielski märˈtsēn byĕlˈskē [key], c.1495–1575, Polish historian and poet. His history of Poland, the first historical work written in Polish, was completed by his s...

White, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)White, Gilbert, 1720–93, English naturalist. He served as curate at Selborne and nearby parishes from 1751. He recorded his detailed observations of nature in letters to other naturalists, and on th...