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Parker, Charlie “Bird”

(Encyclopedia)Parker, Charlie “Bird” (Charles Christopher Parker, Jr.), 1920–55, American musician and composer, b. Kansas City, Kans. He began playing alto saxophone in 1933 and, shifting from one band to an...

Handy, W. C.

(Encyclopedia)Handy, W. C. (William Christopher Handy), 1873–1958, American songwriter and band leader, b. Florence, Ala. Largely self-taught, Handy began his career as a cornet player in a minstrel show in 1896,...

Gadsden, James

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden, James gădzˈdən [key], 1788–1858, American railroad promoter and diplomat, b. Charleston, S.C.; grandson of Christopher Gadsden. He served in the War of 1812, under Andrew Jackson against...

World's Columbian Exposition

(Encyclopedia)World's Columbian Exposition, held at Chicago, May–Nov., 1893, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Authorized (1890) by Congress, it was pl...

Temple, the

(Encyclopedia)Temple, the, district of the City of London, England. The name refers to two of the four Inns of Court, the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. The Temple was originally the English seat of the famous...

Sebastiano del Piombo

(Encyclopedia)Sebastiano del Piombo sābästyäˈnō dĕl pyômˈbō [key], c.1485–1547, Italian painter of the Venetian school, whose real name was Sebastiano Luciani. Although he was trained by Giovanni Bellini...

Sargent, Thomas John

(Encyclopedia)Sargent, Thomas John, 1943–, American economist, b. Pasadena, Calif., Ph.D. Harvard (1968). He has been on the faculty at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1970–71), Univ. of Minnesota (1971–87), Univ....

Diamond, Peter Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Diamond, Peter Arthur, 1940–, American economist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963. Diamond was a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, from 1963 to 1966...

Mathewson, Christy

(Encyclopedia)Mathewson, Christy (Christopher Mathewson) măthˈəsən, –yəsən [key], 1880–1925, American baseball player, b. Factoryville, Pa., grad. Bucknell Univ., 1902. A righthander, he joined the Cincin...

Ashmole, Elias

(Encyclopedia)Ashmole, Elias ăshmōˈlēən [key], the first such public institution in England. He later donated his library to Oxford, and the whole was housed in a building erected by Sir Christopher Wren. The ...