Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Valley Stream, village (1990 pop. 33,946), Nassau co., SE N.Y., on Long Island, a residential suburb of New York City; inc. 1925. Kennedy International Airport is to the west. Valley Stream is the sit...

(Encyclopedia) Black Hand, symbol and name for a criminal and terroristic secret society, and especially associated with the Mafia and the Camorra. The Black Hand flourished in Sicily in the late 19th cent., and in ...

(Encyclopedia) Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge, New York City, across the Narrows at the entrance to New York harbor, linking the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Designed by O. H. Amma...

(Encyclopedia) Schiff, Jacob Henry, 1847–1920, American banker and philanthropist, b. Frankfurt, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1865 and became a partner in a brokerage house in New York City. At th...

(Encyclopedia) news agency, local, national, international, or technical organization that gathers and distributes news, usually for newspapers, periodicals, and broadcasters. From 1915 until the 1940s, news age...

(Encyclopedia) La Farge, John lə färzh [key], 1835–1910, American artist and writer, b. New York City. He studied with William Morris Hunt in Newport, R.I., and with Thomas Couture in Paris. La Farge began his c...

(Encyclopedia) Field, David Dudley, 1805–94, American lawyer and law reformer, b. Haddam, Conn.; brother of Cyrus W. Field and Stephen J. Field. He was graduated from Williams (1825), studied law in Albany and New...

(Encyclopedia) Armory Show, international exhibition of modern art held in 1913 at the 69th-regiment armory in New York City. It was a sensational introduction of modern art into the United States. The estimated 1,6...

(Encyclopedia) Vancouver, city (1990 pop. 46,380), seat of Clark co., SW Wash., on the Columbia River opposite Portland, Oreg., with which it is connected by bridges; inc. 1857. A rapidly growing suburb of Portland ...

(Encyclopedia) Morton, Levi Parsons, 1824–1920, American banker, Vice President of the United States (1889–93), b. Shoreham, Vt. He engaged in business in Hanover, N.Y., and in Boston before organizing (1863) th...