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Victor Talking Machine Company
Active InCamden, NJ
BiographyIn 1901, Eldridge R. Johnson founded the Victrola Talking Machine Company. Johnson trademarked his company, borrowing from an 1893 painting by Francis Barraud depicting his brother's fox terrier, Nipper, listening to the horn of a phonograph. Victrola eventually became America's most popular brand of home phonograph. The Credenza was invented in 1926 to appeal to homeowners who wanted their phonograph to look like furniture. Its horn, the visual centerpiece of earlier Victrolas, was neatly tucked away underneath the turntable. In the 1930s, after the company was sold to RCA, phonographs were often refashioned into bookcases and their spring motors used as fishing boat trolling motors. As a result, only a small percentage of Victrola cabinets still contain their original working parts.Person TypeInstitution
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