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Definition
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians (also known as Native Americans of the Plains and Prairie, Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains) are the original inhabitants of the western plains of North America, now part of the United States and Canada. They are...
Definition
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a ritual ceremony observed by the Plains Indians of the regions of modern Canada and the United States to awaken the earth, renew the community, give thanks for the sun, and petition or give thanks for favors from the Great...
Definition
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry is commonly defined as a branch of agriculture dealing with the domestication, breeding, and rearing of animals for various purposes including labor (as in the case of large animals), a food source, protection, and companionship...
Definition
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a philosophy founded by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and then extended by other thinkers, notably John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Utilitarianism involves the greatest happiness principle, which holds that a law or action is...
Article
Hidatsa Sun Dance Ritual
The Hidatsa Sun Dance Ritual (also known as Hidatsa Sun Dance) is a Native American story of the Hidatsa nation illustrating the practice of an individual initiating the Sun Dance for personal reasons, in this case, to win the hand of the...
Image
Howe's Sewing Machine
An illustration of the lockstitch sewing machine, invented in 1844 by Elias Howe (1819-1867) in Cambridge, USA. The machine made much stronger fabrics than previously as the stitches did not unravel if the thread broke. The secret was the...
Image
Fall of Gog and Magog
Fall of Gog and Magog, mural by John Singer Sargent, 1916.
Boston Public Library
Image
Lyrist and Singer from the Standard of Ur
This is a detail of the so-called "Peace Scene" of the Standard of Ur. Here, on the left, a man, wearing a flounced skirt, sits on a chair (or stool) and drinks from a cup. Behind him, a man holds (and plays) a lyre; a very similar lyre was...
Image
The Spanish Singer by Manet
An 1860 oil on canvas painting, The Spanish Singer, by Edouard Manet (1832-83), the French modernist painter. The subject is here painted in a conservative style and, consequently, it was accepted by the Salon of Paris in 1861 and won a commendation...
Definition
Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer of Romantic music best known for his songs, symphonies, piano music, and chamber music. Schubert's career lasted only 15 years, but he was a prolific composer. Neither a conductor or virtuoso...