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William James Durant
William James Durant 1885-1981, American historian and essayist, b. North Adams, Mass. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1917 and published his doctoral dissertation, Philosophy and the Social Problem, in the same year. This was followed by The Story of Philosophy (1926), an immediate best...
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Thomas Clark Durant
Thomas Clark Durant 1820-85, American railroad builder, chief figure in the construction of the Union Pacific RR, b. Lee, Mass. He was successful in building railroads in the Midwest, and, after the Union Pacific was organized (1862) by an act of Congress, John A. Dix was elected president and Du...
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vaudeville
vaudeville , originally a light song, derived from the drinking and love songs formerly attributed to Olivier Basselin and called Vau, or Vaux, de Vire. Similar to the English music hall , American vaudeville was a live entertainment consisting of unrelated songs, dances, acrobatic and magic ...
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Oakes Ames
Oakes Ames 1804-73, American manufacturer, railroad promoter, and politician, b. Easton, Mass. With his brother Oliver he managed the family's well-known shovel factory at Easton. The business grew under demands from the expanding Midwest frontier and the Western gold diggings. Active in founding t...
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Duran
Duran Durand , or Durante , Jewish family of scholars. Profiat Isaac ben Moshe ha-Levi Duran, 1350-1414, called Efodi, was born probably in Perpignan, France, but he moved to Catalonia. In 1391, when widespread massacres of Spanish Jews resulted in mass conversions, Duran was one of th...
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John Adams Dix
John Adams Dix 1798-1879, American statesman, b. Boscawen, N.H. He served in the War of 1812, was later admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Cooperstown, N.Y. He held high state offices and served (1845-49) as Democratic U.S. senator from New York. In 1848 he ran for governor of New York on th...
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Christopher Dresser
Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, British designer, pioneer of modern industrial design, b. Scotland, He moved (1847) to London, where he studied (1847-54) at the Government School of Design. He began his career as a botanist, teaching and writing several books. Dresser contributed floral designs to O...
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antique collecting
antique collecting the assembling of items of aesthetic, historical, and often monetary value from earlier eras. The term antique initially referred only to the preclassical and classical cultures of the ancient world. It is now applied to old artifacts of all cultures. Legally and traditionally,...
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Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey (James Francis Dorsey), 1904-57, and his brother Tommy Dorsey (Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr.), 1905-1956, both b. Shenandoah, Pa., American jazz musicians and bandleaders during the Big Band era. Jimmy Dorsey played the clarinet and alto saxophone, his brother the trombone. Toward the...
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Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors (James Scott Connors, Jr.), 1952-, American tennis player, b. East St. Louis, Ill. A volatile, controversial, and fiercely competitive player, Connors was known for his theatrical conduct on the court as well as for his powerful two-handed backhand, strong return of service, accurate ...
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