Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Holmes, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Holmes, William Henry, 1846–1933, American geologist, anthropologist, and museum director, b. Harrison co., Ohio. He was internationally recognized for his work in museum science. In 1872 he became ...

Phoenix, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Phoenix, city (1990 pop. 983,403), state capital and seat of Maricopa co., S Ariz., on the Salt River; inc. 1881. It is the largest city in Arizona, the hub of the rich agricultural region of the Salt...

Great Awakening

(Encyclopedia)Great Awakening, series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th cent. It resulted in doctrinal changes and influenced social and political thought. In ...

Allen, James Lane

(Encyclopedia)Allen, James Lane, 1849–1925, American novelist, b. Lexington, Kentucky. Among his stylized, “genteel” novels set in his native region are A Kentucky Cardinal (1894), Aftermath (1895), and The C...

Copts

(Encyclopedia)Copts kŏpts [key], the native Christian minority of Egypt; estimates of the number of Copts in Egypt range from 5% to 17% of the population. Copts are not ethnically distinct from other Egyptians; th...

Street, George Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Street, George Edmund, 1824–81, English architect. One of the foremost champions of the Gothic revival, he did much church work, including St. Mary Magdalene, Paddington, London; St. James the Less,...

Curry, Michael Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Curry, Michael Bruce, 1953–, American Episcopal bishop, b. Chicago, grad. Hobart College, 1975, Yale Divinity School, 1978. Ordained in 1978, he served as rector of churches in Winston-Salem, N.C., ...

Yokuts

(Encyclopedia)Yokuts yōˈko͝ots [key], Native North Americans of S California. Their culture was essentially that of the California cultural area, and their basketry and pictographs are notable. In the late 18th ...

Means, Russell

(Encyclopedia)Means, Russell, 1939–2012, Native American activist, b. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S.Dak. An Oglala Sioux, he grew up near San Francisco, and attended four colleges but never graduated. He joine...

camass

(Encyclopedia)camass or camas both: kămˈəs [key], any species of the genus Camassia (or Quamasia), hardy North American plants of the family Lilaceae (lily family), chiefly of moist places in the far West, where...