Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Scott, Winfield, 1786–1866, American general, b. near Petersburg, Va. Although vain and pompous (he was called “Old Fuss and Feathers”), Scott was also generous, fair-minded, considerate of h...

(Encyclopedia) Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–49, American poet, short-story writer, and critic, b. Boston. He is acknowledged today as one of the most brilliant and original writers in American literature. His skillfully...

(Encyclopedia) glacier, moving mass of ice that survives year to year, formed by the compacting of snow into névé and then into granular ice and set in motion outward and downward by the force of gravity and the s...

(Encyclopedia) abolitionists, in U.S. history, particularly in the three decades before the Civil War, members of the movement that agitated for the compulsory emancipation of the slaves. Abolitionists are distingui...

(Encyclopedia) school, term commonly referring to institutions of pre-college formal education. It also properly includes colleges, universities, and many types of special training establishments (see adult educatio...

(Encyclopedia) Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City. Alice, his daughter by his first wife, married Nicholas Longworth in the White House; “Princ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Michigan mĭshˈĭgən [key], upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W),...

(Encyclopedia) little magazine, term used to designate certain magazines that have as their purpose the publication of art, literature, or social theory by comparatively little-known writers. The little-magazine m...

(Encyclopedia) mountain, high land mass projecting conspicuously above its surroundings and usually of limited width at its summit. Although isolated mountains are not unusual, mountains commonly form ranges, compri...

(Encyclopedia) Charleston. 1 City (2020 pop. 17,286), seat of Coles co., E Ill.; inc. 1835. Charleston is an industrial, rail, and trade center located in an ...