Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Clarke, John, 1609–76, one of the founders of Rhode Island, b. Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. He emigrated to Boston in 1637 and shortly thereafter joined Anne Hutchinson (with whom he had sided in th...

(Encyclopedia) Hancock, John, 1737–93, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Braintree, Mass. From an uncle he inherited Boston's leading mercantile firm, and n...

(Encyclopedia) Bernanos, Georges zhôrzh bĕrnänōsˈ [key], 1888–1948, French novelist and polemicist. Profoundly Catholic, Bernanos attacked modern materialism and advocated a moral and ethical order based on t...

(Encyclopedia) Benson, Ezra Taft, 1899–1994, U.S. secretary of agriculture (1953–61), b. Whitney, Idaho. An extension economist and marketing specialist at the Univ. of Idaho (1930–38) and executive secretary ...

(Encyclopedia) Burns, Ken (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953–, American documentary filmmaker, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explor...

(Encyclopedia) narodniki närôdˈnĭkē [key], Russian populists, adherents of an agrarian socialist movement active from the 1860s to the end of the 19th cent. Influenced by the writings of Aleksandr Herzen, the n...

(Encyclopedia) Marvell, Andrew märˈvəl [key], 1621–78, one of the English metaphysical poets. Educated at Cambridge, he worked as a clerk, traveled abroad, and returned to serve as tutor to Lord Fairfax's daugh...

(Encyclopedia) bigamy bĭˈgəmē [key], crime of marrying during the continuance of a lawful marriage. Bigamy is not committed if a prior marriage has been terminated by a divorce or a decree of nullity of marriage...

(Encyclopedia) Hunt, Richard Morris, 1828–95, American architect, b. Brattleboro, Vt., studied in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the École des Beaux-Arts; brother of William Morris Hunt. He was a leading practitione...

(Encyclopedia) Ford, John, 1895–1973, American film director, b. Cape Elizabeth, Maine, as John Martin Feeney. Ford began directing in 1917 after an apprenticeship with his brother Francis. Over the next 50 years,...