Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

213 results found

Cunningham, Merce

(Encyclopedia)Cunningham, Merce (Mercier Philip Cunningham), 1919–2009, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Centralia, Wash. Cunningham studied modern dance with Martha Graham and ballet at Balanchine's ...

Greeneville

(Encyclopedia)Greeneville, town (2020 pop. 15,479), seat of Greene co., NE Tenn., in a tobacco, dairy, and cattle area; founded 1783, inc. 1875. It is a leading tobac...

Morgan, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, Daniel, 1736–1802, American Revolutionary general, b. probably in Hunterdon co., N.J. He moved (c.1753) to Virginia and later served in the French and Indian Wars and several campaigns again...

Noland, Kenneth

(Encyclopedia)Noland, Kenneth nōˈlənd [key], 1924–2010, American painter, b. Asheville, N.C. An outstanding colorist, Noland was one of the best-known exponents of the abstract painting movement known as color...

Wise, Thomas James

(Encyclopedia)Wise, Thomas James, 1859–1937, English bibliographer and book collector. His famous Ashley Library of rare editions and manuscripts was acquired by the British Museum in 1937. His many bibliographie...

showboat

(Encyclopedia)showboat. In the early 19th cent. entertainment was brought by boat to the pioneers that settled along the western rivers (especially the Mississippi and Ohio) of the United States. At first companies...

Davis, Gray

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Gray (Joseph Graham Davis, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. the Bronx, N.Y. A graduate of Stanford Univ. (1964) and Columbia Univ. Law School (1967), he entered the army and served in Vietnam...

Curtiss, Glenn Hammond

(Encyclopedia)Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878–1930, American inventor and aviation pioneer, b. Hammondsport, N.Y. He was a member of Alexander Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Association (1907–9). In 1908 he made ...

Clark, Alvan

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Alvan, 1804–87, American astronomer and maker of astronomical lenses, b. Ashfield, Mass. In 1846 the firm of Alvan Clark & Sons was established at Cambridgeport, Mass.; it became famous a...

mores

(Encyclopedia)mores môrˈāz [key], concept developed by William Graham Sumner to designate those folkways that if violated, result in extreme punishment. The term comes from the Latin mos (customs), and although ...