Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Roth v. United States, case decided in 1957 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Samuel Roth of New York City was convicted of mailing obscene materials. On appeal his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Cou...

(Encyclopedia) Empire State Building, in central Manhattan, New York City, on Fifth Ave. between 33d St. and 34th St. It was designed by the firm of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon and built in 1930–31. For many years it...

(Encyclopedia) Kerr, Clark kûr, kär [key], 1911–2003, American educational reformer, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Swarthmore College (B.A., 1932) and the Univ. of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1939). He was a profess...

(Encyclopedia) Confederate cruisers, in U.S. history, warships constituting the South's seagoing navy. At the outbreak of the Civil War the United States ranked next to Great Britain in merchant marine. Since almost...

(Encyclopedia) Cremin, Lawrence Arthur krĕmˈĭn [key], 1925–91, American educator and historian, b. New York City. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1949 and began teaching at Teachers College, Columbia. He...

(Encyclopedia) Wilson, James, 1836–1920, American agriculturist and cabinet officer, b. Ayrshire, Scotland. He emigrated to the United States and settled (1851) in Connecticut, later moving (1855) to Tama co., Iow...

(Encyclopedia) Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Board of Education, case decided in 1971 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court held that the constitutional mandate (see Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan...

(Encyclopedia) National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York Cit...

(Encyclopedia) Peabody, George pēˈbädē, –bədē [key], 1795–1869, American financier and philanthropist, b. South Danvers (now Peabody), Mass. At the age of 11 he was apprenticed to a grocer, and later (1814...

(Encyclopedia) Saint Augustine mətănˈzəs [key], also a national monument, was built by Spain in 1742. Other places of interest in the city are the old schoolhouse, the house reputed to be the oldest in the Unite...