Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cushman, Pauline

(Encyclopedia)Cushman, Pauline, 1835–93, Union spy in the Civil War, b. New Orleans. She became an actress at 18 in New York City. In 1863 she was banished to Confederate lines as a supposed Southern sympathizer,...

Angel Island

(Encyclopedia)Angel Island, largest island in San Francisco Bay, W Calif. Explored by the Spanish in 1775, it came under U.S. control in 1851. The U.S. army used the island as a base from 1863 to 1946, and from 195...

Newlands, Francis Griffith

(Encyclopedia)Newlands, Francis Griffith, 1848–1917, American legislator, b. Natchez, Miss. After practicing law in San Francisco from 1870, he moved (1888) to Nevada. He became well known for his interest in irr...

Nuttall, George Henry Falkiner

(Encyclopedia)Nuttall, George Henry Falkiner nŭtˈôl [key], 1862–1937, American-British bacteriologist, b. San Francisco, M.D. Univ. of California, 1884, Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1890. In 1899 he became assoc...

Mill Valley

(Encyclopedia)Mill Valley, city (1990 pop. 13,038), Marin co., W Calif., a suburb on Richardson Bay, an inlet of San Francisco Bay; inc. 1900. It is a residential community set in heavily timbered hills and valleys...

mint, in finance

(Encyclopedia)mint, place where legal coinage is manufactured. The name is derived from the temple of Juno Moneta, Rome, where silver coins were made as early as 269 b.c. Mints existed earlier elsewhere, as in Lydi...

Maybeck, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Maybeck, Bernard, 1862–1957, American architect, b. New York City. After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, he became one of the leading architects in California. From the 1890s to the 19...

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

(Encyclopedia)William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, philanthropic organization founded in 1966 by engineer and entrepeneur William R. Hewlett (1913–2001), co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, his wife, Flora Lamson Hew...

Burns, George

(Encyclopedia)Burns, George, 1896–1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906–64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923–58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on radio (1932–...

Tetrazzini, Luisa

(Encyclopedia)Tetrazzini, Luisa lwēˈzä tāträt-tsēˈnē [key], 1871–1940, Italian coloratura soprano. She made her debut in Florence in 1890. After appearances in Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Latin America, ...