Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pitcher, Molly

(Encyclopedia)Pitcher, Molly, 1744–1832, American Revolutionary heroine whose real name was Mary Ludwig Hays or Heis, b. near Trenton, N.J. As the wife of John Hays or Heis, she carried water for her husband and ...

Norton, Joshua Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Norton, Joshua Abraham, 1818–80, colorful eccentric of San Francisco known as “Emperor Norton,” b. London. He went (1820) with his parents to Cape Town, South Africa, and news of the California ...

Cavendish, George

(Encyclopedia)Cavendish, George, 1500–1561?, English gentleman, usher to Cardinal Wolsey. His biography of Wolsey, written in 1557, remained in manuscript until 1641 and first appeared in entirety in Christopher ...

Canada First movement

(Encyclopedia)Canada First movement, party that appeared in Canada soon after confederation (1867). Its purpose was to encourage the growth of nonpartisan loyalty to the new dominion of Canada. In Toronto, in 1874,...

McClellan, George Brinton

(Encyclopedia)McClellan, George Brinton, 1826–85, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. After graduating (1846) from West Point, he served with distinction in the Mexican War and later worked ...

Mitropoulos, Dimitri

(Encyclopedia)Mitropoulos, Dimitri dēmēˈtrē mētrôˈpo͞olôs [key], 1896–1960, Greek-American conductor. A piano pupil of Busoni, in 1930 he substituted for an indisposed piano soloist and simultaneously co...

Hofmann, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Hofmann, Hans, 1880–1966, American painter, b. Germany. After earning a considerable reputation as a teacher in Munich, Hofmann moved permanently to the United States in 1930. He opened his own scho...

Angell, James Burrill

(Encyclopedia)Angell, James Burrill jāmz bûrˈəl ānˈjəl [key], 1829–1916, American educator, editor, and diplomat, b. Scituate, R.I., grad. Brown, 1849, and studied abroad. He became professor of modern lan...

Colfax, Schuyler

(Encyclopedia)Colfax, Schuyler skīˈlər kōlˈfăks [key], 1823–85, Vice President of the United States (1869–73), b. New York City. He moved in boyhood to Indiana. First a Whig editor, he later helped to org...

Secord, Laura (Ingersoll)

(Encyclopedia)Secord, Laura (Ingersoll) sēˈkôrd [key], 1775–1868, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812. Born in Massachusetts, she was taken by her parents to Canada after the American Revolution. In 1813 she l...