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trust

(Encyclopedia)trust, in law, arrangement whereby property legally owned by one person is administered for the benefit of another. Three parties are ordinarily needed for the relation to arise: the settlor, who bequ...

United Mine Workers of America

(Encyclopedia)United Mine Workers of America (UMW), international labor union formed (1890) by the amalgamation of the National Progressive Union (organized 1888) and the mine locals under the Knights of Labor. It ...

Geological Survey, United States

(Encyclopedia)Geological Survey, United States, bureau organized in 1879 under the Dept. of the Interior to unify and centralize the work already undertaken by separate surveys under Clarence King, F. V. Hayden, Ge...

Cheney, Dick

(Encyclopedia)Cheney, Dick (Richard Bruce Cheney) chēˈnē, chāˈ– [key], 1941–, Vice President of the United States (2001–9), b. Lincoln, Nebr. His family moved to Casper, Wyo., when he was 13, and he atte...

Rice, Condoleezza

(Encyclopedia)Rice, Condoleezza, 1954–, U.S. government official and educator, b. Birmingham, Ala. A political scientist who has specialized in Russian and E European studies, Rice has been a professor at Stanfor...

Booth, John Wilkes

(Encyclopedia)Booth, John Wilkes wĭlks [key], 1838–65, American actor, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, b. near Bel Air, Md.; son of Junius Brutus Booth and brother of Edwin Booth. He made his stage debut at the...

Osceola

(Encyclopedia)Osceola ŏsēōˈlə, ō– [key], c.1800–1838, leader of the Seminole. He was also called Powell, the surname of his supposed white father. In the early 1830s, Osceola was living close to Fort King...

Surratt, Mary Eugenia

(Encyclopedia)Surratt, Mary Eugenia sərătˈ [key], 1820–65, alleged conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, hanged on July 7, 1865. A widow (her maiden name was Jenkins) who had moved from Surratts...

Alexie, Sherman

(Encyclopedia)Alexie, Sherman (Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr.), 1966–, Native American writer, b. Wellpinit, Spokane Indian Reservation, E Wash., studied Gonzaga Univ. and Washington State Univ. (B.A., 1991). Alexie ...

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