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Morris, Robert, 1734–1806, American merchant

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Robert, 1734–1806, American merchant, known as the “financier of the American Revolution,” and signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Liverpool, England. Morris emigrated to Ameri...

Rockefeller Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Rockefeller Foundation, philanthropic institution established (1913) by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., to promote “the well-being of mankind throughout the world.” During its first 14 years the foundat...

Peterson, Martha

(Encyclopedia)Peterson, Martha, 1916–2006, American educator, b. Jamestown, Kans., grad. Univ. of Kansas (A.B., 1937; Ph.D., 1959). She served as instructor in mathematics, assistant dean of women, and dean of wo...

bureaucracy

(Encyclopedia)bureaucracy byo͝orŏkˈrəsē [key], the administrative structure of any large organization, public or private. Ideally bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchical authority relations, defined spher...

Brundtland, Gro Harlem

(Encyclopedia)Brundtland, Gro Harlem bro͝ontˈländ [key], 1939–, Norwegian political leader. She worked as a physician in the national health service until appointed (1974) minister of the environment. She beca...

progressivism

(Encyclopedia)progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

Collins, Patricia Hill

(Encyclopedia)Collins, Patricia Hill, 1948–, American sociologist and social theorist, b. Philadelphia, Ph.D. Brandeis University, 1984. A noted ...

Marshall Plan

(Encyclopedia)Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World War II. The Marshall ...

International Ladies Garment Workers Union

(Encyclopedia)International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), former U.S. labor union, formed in 1900 by the amalgamation of seven local unions. At the turn of the century most of the workers in the garment ind...

Wells, Emmeline Blanche

(Encyclopedia)Wells, Emmeline Blanche, 1828–1921, American journalist and women's rights advocate, b. Petersham, Mass., as Emmeline Blanche Woodward. She joined the Mormons (see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus...