Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

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Spencer, Miss Mary

Spencer, Miss Mary[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Female 1857 - 1938  (80 years)

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  • Name Spencer, Mary 
    Title Miss 
    Born 4 Oct 1857  St. Catherines, ON Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Sherril Foster, Administrator, Summerland Museum, in an e-mail to David Mattison, 4 Aug 2008, stated Mary Spencer was born in Dunnville, ON.
    Gender Female 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1899-1909  Kamloops, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Kamloops, BC
    Canada 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1909-1911  Summerland, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Summerland, BC
    Canada 
    Buried Sep 1938  Summerland, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Died 1 Sep 1938  Summerland, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [11] 
    Person ID I445  Camera Workers | S, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 20 Jul 2020 

  • Photos
    Photographer Miss Mary Spencer.    		Photographer Miss Mary Spencer.
    Image courtesy of Summerland Museum, BC.

    Documents
    Mary Spencer's 'signature' on a photo mount    		Mary Spencer's "signature" on a photo mount

    Headstones
    Mary Spencer's gravestone, Peach Orchard Cemetery, Summerland, BC.    		Mary Spencer's gravestone, Peach Orchard Cemetery, Summerland, BC.
    The Summerland Museum arranged with a descendant to place a gravestone in the Peach Orchard Cemetery, Summerland, commemorating Mary Spencer, Isobel Spencer and Elizabeth Nicholson.

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: She and her family arrived in Kamloops from Port Colborne, ON, in 1899 and her studio was opened on 25 Jun 1899. Around May 1903 she had moved into a new studio designed by Alistair Thompson on Victoria Street. Her most important series of photos are of the capture and trial of train robber Bill Miner in 1906.

      Having sold her studio in Sep 1909 to Miss Lena Walker, Mary and her sister Isobel moved to West Summerland. Mary briefly continued her photography there, but not in a commercial context. She turned to other kinds of creative endeavours such as pottery and hand-painted china. Never married, the photographer in the film about Bill Miner, The Grey Fox, was very loosely based on Mary Spencer.
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: "Miss M. Spencer Kamloops, B.C." on front of print mount.

  • Sources 
    1. [S46] COLLECTION: BVIPA.

    2. [S62] COLLECTION: BKM.

    3. [S134] COLLECTION: BVA.

    4. [S696] COLLECTION: BASM.

    5. [S41] HEN00, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1900).

    6. [S692] Correspondence, David Mattison.
      Kamloops Museum-Archives to Mattison, 3 Nov 1981

    7. [S244] Cobb (1978), Cobb, Myrna and Morgan, Sher, (Victoria: Camosun College, 1978).

    8. [S438] Schmidt (1992), Wilf Schmidt, (Merritt: Sonotek Publishing, 1992:40-47).

    9. [S694] Postview, (Vancouver, B.C.: Vancouver Postcard Club), 1, v. 22, no. 5 (Nov 2004).

    10. [S641] Foster (2013), Foster, Sherril, (Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlin Press, 2013), 770.92 SPE. (Reliability: 3).

    11. [S652] BVIPA death registration index.
      Registration no. 1938-09-547656, microfilm reel B13163.