Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gray, Thomas, 1716–71, English poet. He was educated at Eton and Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1739 he began a grand tour of the Continent with Horace Walpole. They quarreled in Italy, and Gray returned...

(Encyclopedia) National Archives, official depository for records of the U.S. federal government, established in 1934 by an act of Congress. Although displeasure concerning the method of keeping national records was...

(Encyclopedia) Dover. 1 City (2020 pop. 39,403), state capital, and seat of Kent co., central Del., on the St. Jones River; founded 1683 on orders of William ...

(Encyclopedia) Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren and one of the finest church designs of the English baroque. It stands at the head of Ludgate Hill, where, according to tradition, a...

(Encyclopedia) Fredericksburg. 1 Town (2020 pop. 10,875), Gillespie co., S central Texas, in the Texas Hill Country near the Pedernales River; inc. 1928. Located in an...

(Encyclopedia) balloon, lighter-than-air craft without a propulsion system, lifted by inflation of one or more containers with a gas lighter than air or with heated air. During flight, altitude may be gained by disc...

(Encyclopedia) baby boom, a period in which the birthrate is significantly higher than in other periods, especially the post–World War II period in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In the Uni...

(Encyclopedia) Bronze Age, period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscr...

(Encyclopedia) Sulzberger, Arthur Hays, 1891–1968, American newspaper publisher, b. New York City. He joined the New York Times in 1918 and assisted his father-in-law, the publisher Adolph S. Ochs, succeeding Ochs...

(Encyclopedia) ring, small ornamental hoop usually worn on finger or thumb, but it may be attached to the ear or the nose. Finger rings made of bronze, gold, and silver from the period c.2600–1500 b.c. have been f...