Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

129 results found

Hanaford, Phoebe Ann (Coffin)

(Encyclopedia)Hanaford, Phoebe Ann (Coffin) hănˈəfərd [key], 1829–1921, American Universalist minister. She was the first woman ordained (1868) in New England. Hanaford was the author of fiction, history, and...

coffin

(Encyclopedia)coffin, closed receptacle for a corpse. Its purpose is usually to protect and to aid preservation of the body, although in the past some have believed that it may confine the spirit of the deceased. B...

Coffin, Levi

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, Levi, 1798–1877, American abolitionist, b. North Carolina. In 1826 he moved to the Quaker settlement of Newport (now Fountain City), Ind., where he kept a store until 1847. His home became a...

Ann, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Ann, Cape, NE Mass., N of Massachusetts Bay. It includes Gloucester and Rockport with their fishing fleets, resorts, and artists' colonies. The cape was the epicenter of the 1755 earthquake that damag...

Ann Arbor

(Encyclopedia)Ann Arbor, city (2020 pop. 123,851), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industria...

Patchett, Ann

(Encyclopedia)Patchett, Ann, 1963–, American author, b. Los Angeles, B.A. Sarah Lawrence College, 1984, M.F.A Univ. of Iowa, 1987. In her twenties she was a writer at Seventeen magazine, wrote freelance essays fo...

Lee, Ann

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Ann, 1736–84, English religious visionary, founder of the Shakers in America. Born in Manchester, she worked there in the cotton factories and then became a cook. In 1762 she was married to Abr...

Beattie, Ann

(Encyclopedia)Beattie, Ann bēˈtē, bāˈ– [key], 1947–, American writer, b. Washington, D.C. She gained attention in the early 1970s with short stories in the New Yorker; the 48 stories she published (1974–...

Rutledge, Ann

(Encyclopedia)Rutledge, Ann, 1813?–1835, American historical figure, alleged fiancée of Abraham Lincoln. Her father kept the inn at New Salem, Ill., where Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837. Ann's sudden death from...

Saint Ann

(Encyclopedia)Saint Ann, city (1990 pop. 14,489), St. Louis co., E Mo., a NW suburb of St. Louis; inc. 1948. It is primarily residential, with a major shopping mall. Lambert–St. Louis International Airport is nea...

Browse by Subject