Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gonzales, Pancho (Richard Alonzo Gonzales) gŏnzălˈĭs [key], 1928–95, American tennis player, b. Los Angeles, of Mexican parentage. After two straight wins in both the U.S. lawn and clay court si...

(Encyclopedia) Pears, Sir Peter, 1910–86, English tenor. Pears studied at the Royal College of Music and became a member of the Sadler's Wells Opera and the English Opera Group. In 1948 he made his Covent Garden d...

(Encyclopedia) Reuben ro͞oˈbən [key], in the Bible, Jacob's eldest son and eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. He interceded for his brother Joseph's life and guaranteed the safe return from Egy...

(Encyclopedia) Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa.; coeducational; Methodist; founded 1773 as The Grammar School, chartered and opened as Dickinson College 1783. Chartered as a college primarily through the efforts ...

(Encyclopedia) Fernald, Merritt Lyndon fûrˈnəld [key], 1873–1950, American botanist, b. Orono, Maine, grad. Harvard, 1897. He taught at Harvard (1902–49) and was director of the Gray Herbarium there from 1937...

(Encyclopedia) Franklin, Ann Smith, 1696–1763, American printer; sister-in-law of Benjamin Franklin. After the death in 1735 of her husband, James Franklin, she carried on his commercial printing business, in Newp...

(Encyclopedia) Lowestoft lōˈstôft, –stəf [key], city (1991 pop. 55,231), Suffolk, the easternmost city in England. It is a popular seaside resort and has fishing, shipbuilding, food processing, and other light...

(Encyclopedia) Ayr âr [key], town, South Ayrshire, SW Scotland, at the mouth of the Ayr River on the Firth of Clyde. Ayr is a sea resort and a port for fishing, the export of iron and a...

(Encyclopedia) Jackson, Mahalia məhălˈyə [key], 1911–72, American gospel singer, b. New Orleans. She sang in church choirs during her childhood. Moving (1927) to Chicago, she worked at various menial jobs and ...

(Encyclopedia) Windsor wĭnˈzər [key], town (1990 pop. 27,817), Hartford co., N Conn., at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers, just N of Hartford. Settled by Plymouth Colony in 1633, the town w...