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Clay, Cassius Marcellus

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810–1903, American politician and diplomat, b. Madison co., Ky. Although he came from a slaveholding family, Clay early came to abhor the institution of slavery. In 1845 he...

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

(Encyclopedia)Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum was designed by Gordon Bunshaft to house 6,000 pieces of the enormous art collection amassed by ...

Heinlein, Robert Anson MacDonald

(Encyclopedia)Heinlein, Robert Anson MacDonald hīˈlīn [key], 1907–88, American science-fiction writer, b. Butler, Mo. His best-known novel, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), concerns a young man who is raised...

Mallea, Eduardo

(Encyclopedia)Mallea, Eduardo āˌᵺwärˈᵺō mäyāˈä [key], 1903–82, Argentine novelist and essayist. Mallea is considered one of the outstanding Latin American literary figures. Existentialist thought, pa...

Armani, Giorgio

(Encyclopedia)Armani, Giorgio, 1934–, Italian fashion designer. He designed menswear at Nino Cerruti (1964–70), then worked freelance until 1975 when, in partnership with Sergio Galeotti, he opened his Milan de...

K'ung Hsiang-hsi

(Encyclopedia)K'ung Hsiang-hsi ko͝ong shyäng-shē [key], 1881–1967, Chinese banker and political leader, educated at Oberlin and at Yale. He deemed himself a direct descendant of Confucius in the 75th generatio...

Busoni, Ferruccio Benvenuto

(Encyclopedia)Busoni, Ferruccio Benvenuto fār-ro͞otˈchō bānvāno͞oˈtō bo͞ozōˈnē [key], 1866–1924, Italian pianist and composer. A child prodigy, he gave a concert in Trieste at the age of eight, which...

Truth, Sojourner

(Encyclopedia)Truth, Sojourner, c.1797–1883, American abolitionist, a freed slave, originally called Isabella, b. Ulster co., N.Y. Convinced that she heard heavenly...

Tolkien, J. R. R.

(Encyclopedia)Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) tälˈkēn, tōlˈ– [key], 1892–1973, British novelist, b. South Africa. A fantasy writer and Oxford don, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit (1937), adapted fro...

Seabury, Samuel, American clergyman

(Encyclopedia)Seabury, Samuel, 1729–96, American clergyman, first bishop of the Episcopal Church, b. Connecticut, grad. Yale, 1748. He studied medicine at the Univ. of Edinburgh, then turned to theology and was o...