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Gratz, Barnard

(Encyclopedia)Gratz, Barnard grăts [key], 1738–1801, American merchant, b. Langensdorf, Upper Silesia. Having worked in his cousin's countinghouse in London, Gratz emigrated (1754) to Philadelphia, where he beca...

New England Primer

(Encyclopedia)New England Primer, famous American school book, first published before 1690. Its compiler was Benjamin Harris, an English printer who emigrated to Boston. This was the book from which most of the chi...

Butler, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Walter, 1752?–1781, Loyalist officer in the American Revolution, b. New York State; son of John Butler. He was an officer in his father's Loyalist troop, Butler's Rangers. He was captured (1...

diary

(Encyclopedia)diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. As distinguished from memoir (an account of events placed in perspective by the author long after they have occurred), the diary derives i...

Lee, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Henry, 1756–1818, American Revolutionary soldier, known as Light-Horse Harry Lee, b. Prince William co., Va. He was a cousin of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, Richard H. Lee, and William Lee and w...

style, in printing

(Encyclopedia)style, in printing, arbitrary rule or collection of rules governing the practice of a printer or a publisher in doubtful or disputed matters to obtain consistency. Correct spelling is a matter of lite...

All-American Canal

(Encyclopedia)All-American Canal, 80 mi (129 km) long, SE Calif.; part of the federal irrigation system of the Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1940 across the Colorado Desert, the canal is entirely within the Un...

Inter-American Conferences

(Encyclopedia)Inter-American Conferences: see Pan-Americanism. ...

Inter-American Highway

(Encyclopedia)Inter-American Highway, c.3,400 mi (5,470 km) long, section of the Pan-American Highway system from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Panama City, Panama. Much of the highway prior to 1941 had been built by th...

American Philosophical Society

(Encyclopedia)American Philosophical Society, first scientific society in America, founded (1743) in Philadelphia. It was an outgrowth of the Junto formed (1727) by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first secreta...