Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Wilkins, Roger, 1932–2017, American government official, civil-rights activists, journalist, and educator, b. Kansas City, Mo., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1953; LL.B. 1956); nephew of Roy Wilkin...

(Encyclopedia) Taft, Lorado lərāˈdō [key], 1860–1936, American sculptor, lecturer, and writer on art, b. Elmwood, Ill., studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1886 he became instructor at the Art Institute o...

(Encyclopedia) Gist, Christopher gĭst [key], c.1706–1759, American frontiersman, b. Maryland. Commissioned by the Ohio Company to explore their western lands. In 1750 he descended the Ohio River, explored E Kentu...

(Encyclopedia) Chapman, John Gadsby, 1808–90, American painter, b. Alexandria, Va. Chapman is noted for his colored etchings of the Roman compagna and the American landscape. His historical painting The Baptism of...

(Encyclopedia) Hastings, Thomas, 1784–1872, American composer, b. Washington, Conn. Of his hymns, Rock of Ages is most famous. He compiled several books of hymns, including Musica Sacra (1815) and Spiritual Songs ...

(Encyclopedia) Warren Commission, popular name given to the U.S. Commission to Report upon the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, established (Nov. 29, 1963) by executive order of President Lyndon B. Johnso...

(Encyclopedia) White Bear Lake, city (1990 pop. 24,704), Ramsey and Washington counties, SE Minn., on White Bear Lake; inc. 1922. It is a residential and resort suburb of Minneapolis–St. Paul. Chemicals, medical s...

(Encyclopedia) White Oak, uninc. community (1990 pop. 18,671), Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, central Md., in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. The site of the former Naval Ordnance Laboratory was renamed the...

(Encyclopedia) Spokane, river, c.100 mi (160 km) long, rising in Coeur d'Alene Lake, N Idaho, and flowing through NE Washington to the Columbia River. Dams on the river include Nine Mile, Long Lake, and Little Falls...

(Encyclopedia) Erskine, Robert, 1735–80, geographer and surveyor general to the American Revolutionary army, b. Dunfermline, Scotland. His several hundred detailed maps of the region W of the Hudson River, showing...