Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Barlow, Joel

(Encyclopedia)Barlow, Joel bärˈlō [key], 1754–1812, American writer and diplomat, b. Redding, Conn., grad. Yale, 1778. He was one of the Connecticut Wits and a major contributor to their satirical poem The Ana...

type

(Encyclopedia)type, for printing, was invented in China (c.1040), using woodblocks. Related devices, such as seals and stamps for making impressions in clay, had been used in ancient times in Babylon and elsewhere....

Fort Worth

(Encyclopedia)Fort Worth, city (2020 pop. 918,915), seat of Tarrant co., N Tex., on the Trinity River 30 mi (48 km) W of Dallas; settled 1843, inc. 1873. An army post...

incunabula

(Encyclopedia)incunabula ĭnˌkyo͝onăbˈyo͝olə [key], plural of incunabulum [Late Lat.,=cradle (books); i.e., books of the cradle days of printing], books printed in the 15th cent. The known incunabula represen...

dime novels

(Encyclopedia)dime novels, swift-moving, thrilling novels, mainly about the American Revolution, the frontier period, and the Civil War. The books were first sold in 1860 for 10 cents by the firm of Beadle and Adam...

Field, Cyrus West

(Encyclopedia)Field, Cyrus West, 1819–92, American merchant, promoter of the first Atlantic cable, b. Stockbridge, Mass.; brother of David Dudley Field and Stephen J. Field. As head of a paper business, he accumu...

Camp David accords

(Encyclopedia)Camp David accords, popular name for the peace treaty forged in 1978 between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The official agreement was signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in...

Lansing

(Encyclopedia)Lansing. 1 Village (1990 pop. 28,086), Cook co., NE Ill., a suburb of Chicago, near the Ind. line; inc. 1893. Among the city's industries are meatpacking, food processing, and the manufacture of metal...

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

(Encyclopedia)Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, S Alaska. Located across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, the park (2,619,733 acres/1,060,621 hectares) and adjacent preserve (1,410,325 acres/570,982 hectares) featur...

Chaney, Lon

(Encyclopedia)Chaney, Lon chāˈnē [key], 1883–1930, American film actor, b. Colorado Springs, Colo. Chaney was the son of deaf-mute parents. He made more than 150 silent films. A master of the use of grotesque,...

Browse by Subject