Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Vienna State Opera, opera house and company in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1869 as an expansion of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). Destroyed by wartime bombing in 1945, the elegant building's recons...

(Encyclopedia) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), specialized agency of the United Nations. Formed in 1988, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., it is a member of the World Bank Group (see Internatio...

(Encyclopedia) Spokan or Spokane both: spōkănˈ [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early...

(Encyclopedia) Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins gălˌədĕtˈ, gôˈlə– [key], 1787–1851, American educator of the deaf, b. Philadelphia, grad. Andover Theological Seminary. In England and France he studied methods o...

(Encyclopedia) Bogalusa bōgəlo͞oˈsə [key], city (2020 pop. 10,659), Washington parish, SE La.; inc. 1914. It ...

(Encyclopedia) Boise boiˈsē, –zē [key], city (2020 pop. 235,684), state capital...

(Encyclopedia) Ball, Thomas, 1819–1911, American sculptor, b. Charlestown, Mass.; son of a house and sign painter. Thomas Ball was also a singer of reputation, the first in the United States to sing the title role...

(Encyclopedia) Rankin, Jeannette, 1880–1973, American pacifist, b. Missoula, Mont. She was active in social work and campaigned for woman suffrage. A Republican, she was the first woman in the United States to ser...

(Encyclopedia) Lackawanna, river, 35 mi (56 km) long, rising in NE Pa. and flowing southwest to join the Susquehanna River near Pittston. It crosses the chief anthracite-coal region of the state, passing the cities ...

(Encyclopedia) National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), Washington, D.C., founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler, who conducted the orchestra until 1949. Its first home was Constitution Hall; since 1986 it has been affiliated wi...