Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Parton, Dolly, 1946–, country singer, songwriter, and actress, b. Sevier County, Tenn. Among the most popular country singers of the 1970s and 80s, Parton is known for her Nashville-style flamboyanc...

(Encyclopedia) Olson, Charles, 1910–70, American critic and poet, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1932; M.A., 1933). His literary reputation was established with Call Me Ishmael (1947), a study of the in...

(Encyclopedia) Pennines pĕnˈīnz [key] or Pennine Chain, mountain range, sometimes called the “backbone of England,” extending c.160 mi (260 km) from the Cheviot Hills on the Scottish border to the Peak Distri...

(Encyclopedia) Pinar del Rio pēnärˈ dĕl rēˈō [key], province (1994 est. pop. 700,000), W Cuba, the westernmost province of Cuba. Pinar del Rio is the capital. The province, occupying a narrow area, has an irr...

(Encyclopedia) Draper, Lyman Copeland, 1815–91, American historical collector and librarian, b. Erie co., N.Y. He spent years traveling through an area ranging from New York to Mississippi, gathering the stories o...

(Encyclopedia) Flannagan, John Bernard flănˈəgən [key], 1895–1942, American sculptor, b. Fargo, N.Dak., studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. His early life was a bitter struggle against poverty. Too p...

(Encyclopedia) Qinling or Tsinling both: chĭnˈlĭngˈ [key], mountain range, outlier of the Kunlun Mts., between the Wei and Han rivers, Shaanxi prov., central China; Taibai shan (13,494 ft/4,113 m) is the highest...

(Encyclopedia) Bent, Charles, 1799–1847, American frontiersman, b. St. Louis. He entered the fur trade of the Missouri River and became one of the mountain men. His interests turned to the Southwest, and he led ex...

(Encyclopedia) Saint Elmo's fire, luminous discharge of electricity extending into the atmosphere from some projecting or elevated object. It is usually observed (often during a snowstorm or a dust storm) as brushli...

(Encyclopedia) Plain, the, in French history, term designating the independent members of the National Convention during the French Revolution. The name was applied to them because, in contrast to the radical Mounta...