Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1895, gave its first concert the following year under the direction of Frederic Archer. Victor Herbert was the chief conductor from 1898 to 1904; he was succe...

Office of War Information

(Encyclopedia)Office of War Information (OWI), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II to consolidate government information services. The OWI absorbed the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures, the O...

Wilson, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Alexander, 1766–1813, American ornithologist, b. Scotland. He came to the United States c.1794, taught in rural New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and became a citizen in 1804. Encouraged by Willi...

Cooke, Terence James

(Encyclopedia)Cooke, Terence James, 1921–83, American Roman Catholic clergyman, b. New York City. He was ordained in 1945 after earning a B.A. from St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. In 1957, Cooke was named ...

Clare, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Clare or Clara, Saint, 1193?–1253, Italian nun of Assisi, devoted from her youth to St. Francis, to whom she took a vow of poverty. She led a life of great austerity. She organized her companions in...

Lowell, John, American jurist

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, John, 1743–1802, American jurist, b. Newburyport, Mass. He became (1762) a lawyer and later served in the provincial assembly (1776, 1778), in the state constitutional convention (1779–80)...

Giunta Pisano

(Encyclopedia)Giunta Pisano jo͞onˈtä pēzäˈnō [key], fl. 1236–1255, Italian painter of Pisa. Among his signed works are three very large depictions of the Crucifixion executed for the churches of San Ranier...

Colomb, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Colomb or Colombe, Michel both: mēshĕlˈ kôlôNˈ [key], c.1430–1512, French sculptor, one of the masters of the French Renaissance. Few of his works survive. His name is associated with the exec...

Pressburg, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Pressburg, Treaty of, 1805, peace treaty between Napoleon I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (also emperor of Austria), signed at Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia). Defeated at Austerlit...

Bad Ischl

(Encyclopedia)Bad Ischl bät ĭshˈəl [key] or Ischl, city, in Upper Austria prov., W Austria, in the cent...