Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dole, Nathan Haskell

(Encyclopedia)Dole, Nathan Haskell, 1852–1935, American author, b. Chelsea, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1874. After teaching in New York and in New England, he worked as a newspaperman in Boston, San Francisco, and Phi...

Alameda

(Encyclopedia)Alameda ăləmēˈdə, –māˈdə [key], city (2020 pop. 78,280), Alameda co., W central Calif., on an island just off the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay; settled 185...

Ammann, Othmar Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Ammann, Othmar Hermann ôtˈmär, ŏˈmŏn [key], 1879–1965, American civil engineer, b. Switzerland, grad. Federal Polytechnic Institute, Zürich, 1902. He came to the United States in 1904 and was...

Kahn, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Kahn, Julius kän [key], 1861–1924, American legislator, b. Germany. He arrived (1866) in California as a child. He studied law in San Francisco, was elected (1892) to the state legislature, and was...

Kuhn, Walt

(Encyclopedia)Kuhn, Walt, 1880–1949, American painter, b. New York City. At the age of 19 he worked as a cartoonist in San Francisco, contributing later to Life magazine. After travel and study in Europe he devot...

Wurster, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Wurster, William Wilson, 1895–1973, American architect, b. Stockton, Calif. Wurster was a major designer of town and country dwellings in the roomy and comfortable West Coast aesthetic termed “Bay...

Lange, Dorothea

(Encyclopedia)Lange, Dorothea, 1895–1965, American photographer, b. Hoboken, N.J. as Dorothea Nutzhorn, adopted her mother's maiden name in her twenties. From 1916 until 1932, Lange operated a portrait studio in ...

Central Valley

(Encyclopedia)Central Valley, great trough of central Calif., c.450 mi (720 km) long and c.50 mi (80 km) wide, between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain much of the...

Corbett, James John

(Encyclopedia)Corbett, James John kôrˈbət [key], 1866–1933, American boxer, b. San Francisco. “Gentleman Jim” Corbett won (1892) the heavyweight boxing championship from John L. Sullivan at New Orleans and...