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Nicolay, John George

(Encyclopedia)Nicolay, John George nĭkˈəlā [key], 1832–1901, biographer of Lincoln, b. Bavaria. In 1837 he was brought to the United States, and his family settled in Pike co., Ill. He worked on the Pittsfiel...

Bridgman, Laura

(Encyclopedia)Bridgman, Laura, 1829–89, the first blind and deaf person to be successfully educated, b. Hanover, N.H. Under the guidance of Dr. S. G. Howe, of the Perkins School for the Blind, she learned to read...

Cape May

(Encyclopedia)Cape May, city (2020 pop. 3,374), Cape May co., S N.J., on Cape May peninsula and the Atlantic Ocean; settled in the 1600s, inc. 1857. One of the nation...

electoral college

(Encyclopedia)electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: “Each State shall appoint, in such Man...

Ardern, Jacinda Kate Laurell

(Encyclopedia)Ardern, Jacinda Kate Laurell, 1980–, New Zealand political leader. A member of the Labor party, she worked for Prime Minister Helen Clark and for British prime minister Tony Blair and also was elect...

Trumbull, Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Trumbull, Lyman, 1813–96, U.S. Senator from Illinois (1855–73), b. Colchester, Conn. He taught school in Georgia, was admitted to the bar, and in 1837 moved to Illinois. After serving in the state...

Travers, P. L.

(Encyclopedia)Travers, P. L. (Pamela Lyndon Travers), 1899–1996, British author best known for her Mary Poppins children's books, b. Australia as Helen Lyndon Goff. She worked as an actress and journalist and mov...

Bland-Allison Act

(Encyclopedia)Bland-Allison Act, 1878, passed by the U.S. Congress to provide for freer coinage of silver. The original bill offered by Representative Richard P. Bland incorporated the demands of the Western radica...

MacVeagh, Isaac Wayne

(Encyclopedia)MacVeagh, Isaac Wayne məkvāˈ [key], 1833–1917, American political figure, U.S. Attorney General (1881), b. Chester co., Pa. A lawyer, he was the son-in-law of Simon Cameron, Republican boss of Pe...

Highet, Gilbert Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Highet, Gilbert Arthur məkĭnˈəs [key], 1907–85, b. Glasgow, is noted for her fast-paced, intricately plotted novels of espionage, including Above Suspicion (1941), While Still We Live (1944), De...