Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1891 when businessman Charles Norman Fay invited the German-born conductor Theodore Thomas to establish and lead a new city orchestra; he conducted it until his ...

(Encyclopedia) Dumas, Alexandre, known as Dumas fils fēs [key], 1824–95, French dramatist and novelist, illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas (1802–70, Dumas Père). He was the chief creator of the 19th-century c...

(Encyclopedia) Waters, Ethel, 1896?–1977, African-American singer and actress, b. Chester, Pa. As a singer, she is noted for her sultry, sophisticated, and dramatic version of the blues, evinced in her interpretat...

(Encyclopedia) February Revolution, 1848, French revolution that overthrew the monarchy of Louis Philippe and established the Second Republic. General dissatisfaction resulted partly from the king's increasingly rea...

(Encyclopedia) Aram, Eugene āˈrəm [key], 1704–59, English philologist, b. Yorkshire. A self-taught linguist, Aram was the first to identify the Celtic languages as related to the other languages of Europe. In 1...

(Encyclopedia) Ball, Thomas, 1819–1911, American sculptor, b. Charlestown, Mass.; son of a house and sign painter. Thomas Ball was also a singer of reputation, the first in the United States to sing the title role...

(Encyclopedia) Millet or Milé, Jean François both: zhäN fräNswäˈ mēlāˈ [key], c.1642–1679, French landscape painter, known as Francisque, b. Antwerp. The Arcadian and imaginary Italian landscapes that are...

(Encyclopedia) Marshfield. 1 Town (1990 pop. 21,531), Plymouth co., SE Mass., on the Atlantic coast; settled 1632, inc. 1640. Sand and gravel are produced, as well as electronic products. Several colonial buildings ...

(Encyclopedia) Rethel, Alfred älˈfrĕt rāˈtəl [key], 1816–59, German historical painter and draftsman. He gained a reputation in Frankfurt, where he painted Daniel in the Lions' Den and Guardian Angel of Empe...

(Encyclopedia) Flint, Timothy, 1780–1840, American author, b. North Reading, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1800, and entered the ministry. As a missionary he traveled up and down the Mississippi valley from 1815 until 182...