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Head Start

(Encyclopedia)Head Start, U.S. educational program for disadvantaged preschool children, established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Aimed initially only at poor children, its purpose was to organize pr...

Kiwanis International

(Encyclopedia)Kiwanis International kĭwäˈnĭs [key], community service organization of active and retired business and professional people, founded in 1915 at Detroit, Mich. Local Kiwanis clubs now exist in more...

Canada Company

(Encyclopedia)Canada Company, land settlement company chartered in England in 1826. It was initiated by the Scottish novelist John Galt, who proposed that Upper Canada (Ontario) sell government lands in order to ra...

Runyon, Damon

(Encyclopedia)Runyon, Damon (Alfred Damon Runyon), 1884–1946, American short story writer and journalist, b. Manhattan, Kans. He is best known for his humorous stories—written in a picturesque, slangy journalis...

Dexter, Timothy

(Encyclopedia)Dexter, Timothy, 1747–1806, American merchant and eccentric, b. Malden, Mass. He gained a fortune from the American Revolution by buying up depreciated certificates of indebtedness that were afterwa...

Domagk, Gerhard

(Encyclopedia)Domagk, Gerhard gĕrˈhärt dōˈmäk [key], 1895–1964, German chemist and pathologist. A teacher successively at the universities of Greifswald and Münster, he became (1927) director of research a...

Creswell, John Angel James

(Encyclopedia)Creswell, John Angel James, 1828–91, U.S. Postmaster General (1869–74), b. Port Deposit, Md. He was a lawyer, U.S. Representative (1863–65), and U.S. Senator (1865–67), but his important work ...

Thompson, William Boyce

(Encyclopedia)Thompson, William Boyce, 1869–1930, American financier, b. Virginia City, Mont. He operated silver and copper mines in Montana and Arizona before moving to New York City. He was (1914–19) a direct...

Shaw, Leslie Mortier

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Leslie Mortier, 1848–1932, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1902–7), b. Morristown, Vt. Admitted to the Iowa bar in 1876, he organized (1880) a banking firm that specialized in agricultural c...

Fortas, Abe

(Encyclopedia)Fortas, Abe fôrˈtəs [key], 1910–82, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1965–69), b. Memphis, Tenn. After receiving his law degree from Yale in 1933, he taught there (1933–37) and al...