Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

San Francisco Opera

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco Opera, opera company, founded 1923 by Italian-American conductor Gaetano Merola, who oversaw its early years as a touring company. In 1932 it established a permanent home at the War Memo...

Punchbowl

(Encyclopedia)Punchbowl, hill, 500 ft (152 m) high, in the city of Honolulu, SE Oahu island, Hawaii. In the bowllike extinct volcanic crater at the summit (reached by a scenic drive) is the National Memorial Cemete...

Buxton

(Encyclopedia)Buxton, town, Derbyshire, central England, on the Wye River in Peak District National Park. It is c.1,000 ft (305 m) high; the “old town” is on a hi...

Caney Fork

(Encyclopedia)Caney Fork, river, 144 mi (232 km) long, rising in central Tenn. and flowing NW to the Cumberland River. On Caney Fork, part of the Tennessee Valley Authority, are Great Falls Dam and Center Hill Dam,...

Fillmore, Millard

(Encyclopedia)Fillmore, Millard, 1800–1874, 13th President of the United States (July, 1850–Mar., 1853), b. Locke (now Summer Hill), N.Y. Because he was compelled to work at odd jobs at an early age to earn a l...

Carolina campaign

(Encyclopedia)Carolina campaign, 1780–81, of the American Revolution. After Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, he returned to New York, leaving a British force under Cornwallis to subordinate the Carolina...

butte, in geology

(Encyclopedia)butte, an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top, resulting from the more rapid erosion of the surrounding areas. Buttes are characteristic of the plains of the W United States. See mesa. ...

Shemer

(Encyclopedia)Shemer shēˈmər [key], in the Bible. 1 Owner and eponym of the hill of Samaria. 2 Founder of a clan in the tribe of Asher. Alternate forms are Shamer and Shomer. ...

Carleton, Will

(Encyclopedia)Carleton, Will, 1845–1912, American poet, b. Hudson, Mich. He is best known for his sentimental poems of rural life, the most famous being “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse.” Among his works are F...

North Carolina, University of

(Encyclopedia)North Carolina, University of, main campus at Chapel Hill; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1789, opened 1795, the first state college to open as a university. In 1931 the North Carolina Stat...

Browse by Subject