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Brooklyn Bridge

(Encyclopedia)Brooklyn Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge, New York City, southernmost of the bridges across the East River, between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn; built 1869–83. The achievement of J. A. Roebling...

Blair, James

(Encyclopedia)Blair, James, 1656–1743, Church of England clergyman, missionary to colonial Virginia, and founder of the College of William and Mary, b. Scotland. At the request of the bishop of London, Blair trav...

Adams, Maude

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Maude, 1872–1953, American actress, b. Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father's name was Kiskadden, but she used her mother's maiden name. She began acting at an early age and became leading lady t...

Petrov, Yevgeny Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Petrov, Yevgeny Petrovich yĭvgāˈnyē pētrôˈvĭch pētrôfˈ [key], 1903–42, Russian writer and journalist; brother of the dramatist Valentin P. Katayev. His original name was Yevgeny Petrovich...

carol

(Encyclopedia)carol, popular hymn, of joyful nature, in celebration of an occasion such as May Day, Easter, or Christmas. The earliest English carols date from the 15th cent. The carol is characterized by simplicit...

Putnam, George Palmer, 1887–1950, American author and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Putnam, George Palmer, 1887–1950, American author and explorer, b. Rye, N.Y.; grandson of G. P. Putnam, founder of the publishing firm. He led two expeditions to the Arctic—one in 1926, under the ...

Pitman, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Pitman, Sir Isaac, 1813–97, English inventor of phonographic shorthand. In Stenographic Soundhand (1837) he set forth a shorthand system based on phonetic rather than orthographic principles; adapte...

Riley, James Whitcomb

(Encyclopedia)Riley, James Whitcomb, 1849–1916, American poet, b. Greenfield, Ind., known as the Hoosier poet. He was at various times a traveling actor, a sign painter, and a newspaperman. Under the name “Benj...

Otway, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Otway, Thomas, 1652–85, English dramatist, educated at Winchester and at Oxford. After failing as an actor, Otway wrote his first play, Alcibiades, produced in 1675. Later plays include the rhymed h...

Cooper, James Fenimore

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789–1851, American novelist, b. Burlington, N.J., as James Cooper. He was the first important American writer to draw on the subjects and landscape of his native land in ord...