Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

McCay, Winsor

(Encyclopedia)McCay, Winsor, b. 1867 or 1869, d. 1934, American newspaper cartoonist and film animator, b. Canada or Spring Lake, Mich. McCay began painting signs and posters in Chicago, later drawing and writing f...

Mississippi, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Mississippi, river, principal river of the United States, c.2,350 mi (3,780 km) long, exceeded in length only by the Missouri, the chief of its numerous tributaries. The combined Missouri-Mississippi ...

Clark, Champ

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Champ (James Beauchamp Clark), 1850–1921, American legislator, b. near Lawrenceburg, Ky. After a career as lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician in Missouri, he was (1893–95, 1897–1921...

chantey

(Encyclopedia)chantey or shanty both: shănˈtē [key], work song with marked rhythm, particularly one sung by a group of sailors while hoisting sail or anchor or pushing the capstan. Often it has solo stanzas sung...

Elkins, Stephen Benton

(Encyclopedia)Elkins, Stephen Benton, 1841–1911, American statesman, b. Perry co., Ohio. He grew up in Missouri and after the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in the Union army, although his father and brother ...

Pinckney, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Pinckney, Charles, 1757–1824, American statesman, governor of South Carolina (1789–92, 1796–98, 1806–8), b. Charleston, S.C.; cousin of Charles C. Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney. He fought in th...

Ozarks, the

(Encyclopedia)Ozarks, the, or Ozark Plateau, upland region, actually a dissected plateau, c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), chiefly in S Mo. and N Ark., but partly in Oklahoma and Kansas, between the Arkansas and Mis...

Williams, William Sherley

(Encyclopedia)Williams, William Sherley, 1787–1849, American trader and trapper, known as Old Bill Williams, b. Rutherford co., N.C. Much of his early life was spent in Missouri, where he was a traveling preacher...

Symington, William Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Symington, William Stuart, 1901–88, U.S. senator (1953–76), b. Amherst, Mass. He interrupted a successful business career in 1941 to accept a War Department assignment involving a study of airplan...

Cape Girardeau

(Encyclopedia)Cape Girardeau jĭrärˈdō, jērərdōˈ [key], city (2020 pop. 42,131), Cape Girard...

Browse by Subject