Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Timrod, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Timrod, Henry, 1828–67, American poet, b. Charleston, S.C., studied at the Univ. of Georgia. He was known as “the laureate of the Confederacy.” Timrod became editor of the Columbia South Carolin...

Bates, Katharine Lee

(Encyclopedia)Bates, Katharine Lee, 1859–1929, American author, b. Falmouth, Mass., grad. Wellesley, 1880. She was professor of English literature at Wellesley (1891–1925). Her hymn, “America the Beautiful,�...

Menzel, Donald Howard

(Encyclopedia)Menzel, Donald Howard, 1901–76, American astrophysicist, b. Florence, Colo. From 1926 to 1932 he was with the Lick Observatory in Calif. In 1932 he joined the faculty at Harvard, where he became pro...

Morton, Oliver Perry

(Encyclopedia)Morton, Oliver Perry, 1823–77, American political leader, b. Salisbury, Ind. He was admitted (1847) to the bar and began practice in Centerville, Ind. Morton helped organize the Republican party in ...

Crane, Hart

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Hart (Harold Hart Crane), 1899–1932, American poet, b. Garrettsville, Ohio. He published only two volumes of poetry during his lifetime, but those works established Crane as one of the most o...

Bushnell, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Bushnell, Horace bo͝oshˈnəl [key], 1802–76, American Congregational minister, b. Bantam, Conn. Bushnell became (1833) pastor of the North Church, Hartford, Conn. He wrote Christian Nurture (1847)...

Houdini, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Houdini, Harry ho͞odēˈnē [key], 1874–1926, American magician and writer, b. Budapest, Hungary, as Erik Weisz, later modified to Ehrich Weiss; his stage name honors the French magician Houdin. By...

Kluckhohn, Clyde Kay Maben

(Encyclopedia)Kluckhohn, Clyde Kay Maben klŭckˈhōn [key], 1905–60, American anthropologist, b. LeMars, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1928, M.A. Oxford, 1932, Ph.D. Harvard, 1936. He taught at the Univ. of Ne...

Sangster, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Sangster, Charles, 1822–93, Canadian poet, b. Ontario. At first an imitator of Byron, he became, with the publication of Hesperus and Other Poems and Lyrics (1860), the first notable Canadian poet t...

Pausanias, geographer of ancient Greece

(Encyclopedia)Pausanias, fl. a.d. 150, traveler and geographer, probably b. Lydia. His Description of Greece is an invaluable source for the topography, monuments, and legends of ancient Greece. There are translati...

Browse by Subject