Home > Artist Database > Bio-bibliographic Database > SPENCER, Mary
Artist Database
SPENCER, Mary
- Born
- St. Catharines, Ontario, 1857
- Died
- Summerland, British Columbia, 1938
- Biography synopsis
- Spencer moved from Port Colborne, Ontario to Kamloops, British Columbia in 1898. Upon opening her studio in 1899, Spencer became the only professional photographer in Kamloops. Spencer's work is best known through a series she did on the capture and trial of train robber Bill Miner in 1906. The case attracted a great deal of attention, and as the only photographer in the area Spencer's photographs appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines in the region. In 1909 Spencer sold her studio and in 1911 moved to West Summerland, near Kelowna (Penticton), British Columbia, where she continued photographing as well as making pottery and painting china. Her work can be found in numerous archives around British Columbia, including the British Columbia Archives. Spencer did not pursue her career as a photographer to any degree in West Summerland. She was listed as a fruit rancher in local directories and spent much of her time painting on china.
- Media used
- China painting
- Oil painting
- Pen and Ink
- Photography
- File & Archive locations
- British Columbia Archives
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Cobb, Myrna and Sher Morgan. Eight Women Photographers of British Columbia, 1860-1978. Victoria, British Columbia: Camosun College, 1978
- Grauer, Peter. Interred with their Bones: Bill Miner in Canada. Kamloops, British Columbia: Partners in Publishing, 2006
- Mackie, John. "Tracking the Notorious Miner." Vancouver Sun 24 Jun. 2006: 1
- Norton, Wayne. Kamloops History: Fictions, Facts and Fragments. Vancouver: Plateau Press, 2007
- Schmidt, Wilf. "Mary Spencer: Kamloops Photographer 1899-1909." in Kamloops: One Hundred Years of Community, 1893-1993. Merritt, British Columbia: Sonotek, 1992: 41
- Skidmore, Colleen. Rare Merit: Women in Photography in Canada, 1840-1940 Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press, 2022
- Waddington, Margaret. Biographies of B.C. Postcard Photographers. Vancouver: Vancouver Postcard Club, 2006
