Chambers

Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever, 1866-1954, English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. He wrote The Mediaeval Stage (1903), The Elizabethan Stage (1923), Arthur of Britain (1927), William Shakespeare (1930), and studies of S. T. Coleridge (1938) and Matthew Arnold (1947).

Chambers, Robert, 1802-71: see Chambers, William.

Chambers, Whittaker, 1901-61, U.S. journalist and spy, b. Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Communist party in 1925 and wrote for its newspaper before engaging (1935-38) in espionage for the USSR. He left the party in 1939 and began working for Time magazine. In 1948 he testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, accusing Alger Hiss, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Dept. official, of being a Communist party member. Hiss sued for libel, and Chambers then accused him of having been part of an espionage ring. Chambers, now being promoted by Congressman Richard Nixon, led investigators to his Maryland farm, where he produced from a hollowed-out pumpkin State Dept. documents he alleged Hiss had given him. Hiss was indicted for perjury, and after two trials was found guilty (1950) and imprisoned. The case was extremely controversial, and both men were vehemently attacked and defended.

Chambers, Sir William, 1723-96, English architect, b. Gothenburg, Sweden. He traveled extensively in the East Indies and in China making drawings of gardens and buildings, many of which were later published. He studied architecture in France and Italy and established (1755) his practice in England where he designed decorative architecture for Kew Gardens. From the founding (1768) of the Royal Academy to the end of his life, Chambers was a dominant figure in its councils. His Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture (1759) became a standard and influential work on classic design. The foremost official architect of his day in England, he continued the neo-Palladian tradition, which he adapted to the prevailing classical taste. His chief work, Somerset House, is an extensive block of government offices, begun in 1776. He also had charge of various alterations at Trinity College, Dublin, and designed additions to Blenheim Palace, the observatory in Richmond Park, and casinos in many parks of the nobility. He became private architect to King George III and was made (1782) surveyor general. Chambers was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Chambers, William, 1800-1883, and Robert Chambers, 1802-71, Scottish authors and publishers. Their firm of W. and R. Chambers is best known for Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, which William started in 1832 and for which both brothers wrote, and Chambers's Encyclopaedia (10 vol., 1859-68), which has gone through several editions. Robert published several books on history and in geology, including the anonymous Vestiges … of Creation (1844), a forerunner of Darwin's Origin of Species. William, always interested in public improvement, was lord provost of Edinburgh, 1865-69.

orig. Jay Vivian Chambers

(born April 1, 1901, Philadelphia—died July 9, 1961, near Westminster, Md., U.S.) U.S. journalist and principal figure in the Alger Hiss case. He joined the Communist Party in 1923 and worked at various times as an editor at New Masses, The Daily Worker, and Time magazine. In testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in August 1948, he named former State Department official Alger Hiss as a fellow member of a 1930s Communist spy ring. Hiss denied the charges and sued Chambers for slander. In the trials that followed, Chambers produced material he claimed Hiss had given him to pass along to Soviet agents. His autobiography, Witness, was published in 1952.

Learn more about Chambers, (David) Whittaker with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Chambers is a village in Holt County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 333 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Chambers is located at (42.205133, -98.748171).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.0 square miles (2.6 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 333 people, 153 households, and 102 families residing in the village. The population density was 331.6 people per square mile (128.6/km²). There were 172 housing units at an average density of 171.3/sq mi (66.4/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 99.70% White, 0.30% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.

There were 153 households out of which 22.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.75.

In the village the population was spread out with 21.0% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 20.4% from 25 to 44, 29.4% from 45 to 64, and 23.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 85.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $24,750, and the median income for a family was $28,611. Males had a median income of $23,750 versus $17,778 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,941. About 4.8% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.1% of those under age 18 and 11.9% of those age 65 or over.

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