Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bela bēˈlə [key], in the Bible. 1 First king of Edom. 2 Benjamin's first son. An alternative spelling is Belah. 3 City later called Zoar. ...

(Encyclopedia) Henderson, Leon, 1895–1986, American economist, administrator of the Office of Price Administration (1941–42), b. Millville, N.J. An official of the Russell Sage Foundation (1925–34), Henderson ...

(Encyclopedia) Sargent, Henry, 1770–1845, American genre and portrait painter, b. Gloucester, Mass., studied in London with Benjamin West. He was skilled in the rendering of textures and accessories. Fine examples...

(Encyclopedia) Goucher College gouˈchər [key], at Towson, Md., formerly at Baltimore; inc. 1885, opened 1888 by Methodists as a college for women, coeducational since 1987. It is named after John Franklin Goucher ...

(Encyclopedia) Ferrier, Kathleen, 1912–53, British contralto, b. Higher Walton, Lancashire. Ferrier began voice lessons at 25. She became known for her rich, expressive, and remarkably low voice. Her celebrated pe...

(Encyclopedia) Rusk, Jeremiah McLain, 1830–93, American political leader, b. Malta, Ohio. He became a farmer in Wisconsin, where he entered politics and held numerous offices. After serving in the Civil War, he wa...

(Encyclopedia) Paine, Thomas, 1737–1809, Anglo-American political theorist and writer, b. Thetford, Norfolk, England. The son of a working-class Quaker, he became an excise officer and was dismissed from the servi...

(Encyclopedia) Pennsylvania Dutch [Ger. Deutsch=German], people of E Pennsylvania of German descent who migrated to the area in the 18th cent., particularly those in Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh, Lebanon, Y...

(Encyclopedia) almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts...

(Encyclopedia) Jay, John, 1745–1829, American statesman, 1st chief justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time ...