Elizabeth Spencer

Elizabeth Dickerson Spencer (April 12, 1871 – April 22, 1930) was an American dramatic soprano, or mezzo-soprano during the later 19th century and early 20th century who is best known for the numerous early recordings she made for Thomas Edison.

Biography Elizabeth Dickerson was born in 1871 to Julia Armentine (Pratte) Dickerson and Col. John M. Dickerson. Her father died eight months later, and in 1874, her mother remarried, to Col. William Gilpin, who had served as the first governor of the Territory of Colorado in 1861. The family moved to Denver. She recorded on both phonograph cylinders and a later Diamond Disc format, and her best recordings are on the latter, which more accurately reproduced her voice.

Spencer died in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1930.