Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar Hoover), 1895–1972, American administrator, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), b. Washington, D.C. Shortly after he was admitted to the bar, he enter...

(Encyclopedia) Hoover Dam, 726 ft (221 m) high and 1,244 ft (379 m) long, on the Colorado River between Nev. and Ariz.; one of the world's largest dams. Built between 1931 and 1936 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,...

(Encyclopedia) Hoover, Herbert Clark, 1874–1964, 31st President of the United States (1929–33), b. West Branch, Iowa. Except for major speeches before the Republican conventions and a 1938 European tour, Hoove...

(Encyclopedia) Burroughs, Edgar Rice bûrˈōz [key], 1875–1950, American novelist, creator of the character Tarzan. He is the author of Tarzan of the Apes (1914) and numerous other jungle and science fiction thri...

(Encyclopedia) Edgar or Eadgar both: ĕdˈgər [key], 943?–975, king of the English (959–75), son of Edmund, king of Wessex. In 957 the Mercians and Northumbrians rebelled against Edgar's brother Edwy and chose ...

(Encyclopedia) Degas, Edgar (Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas) ēlĕrˈ zhĕrmăNˈ ĕdgärˈ dəgäˈ [key], 1834–1917, French painter and sculptor, b. Paris; son of a banker. Although prepared for the law, he abandon...

(Encyclopedia) Edgar Atheling ăthˈəlĭng [key] [O.E. ætheling,=son of the king], 1060?–1125?, English prince, grandson of Edmund Ironside. After the death of King Harold at the battle of Hastings in 1066, Edga...

(Encyclopedia) Cayce, Edgar kās [key], 1877–1945, American folk healer, b. Hopkinsville, Ky. A popularizer of the idea of reincarnation, he was active as a “psychic diagnostician” between 1901 and 1944, perfo...

(Encyclopedia) Wallace, Edgar (Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace), 1875–1932, English novelist and playwright, b. Greenwich. He was the author of more than 150 detective and adventure novels, of which as many as 5 mil...

(Encyclopedia) Goodspeed, Edgar Johnson, 1871–1962, American Greek scholar, b. Quincy, Ill., grad. Denison Univ. (B.A., 1890; D.D., 1928) and Univ. of Chicago (B.D., 1897; Ph.D., 1898). He taught at the Univ. of C...