ELDRIDGE REEVES JOHNSON
Eldridge Reeves Johnson (February 6, 1867 in Wilmington, Delaware - November
15, 1945 in Moorestown, New Jersey) co-created the Victor Talking Machine
Company alongside Emile Berliner, a United States corporation, and built it into
the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of
the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time.
The company was incorporated in Camden, New Jersey in October 1901 by Johnson.
The Victor Talking Machine Company was created by merger and reorganization of
two existing companies: Emile Berliner's Berliner Gramophone Company, which
produced disc records, and Johnson's Consolidated Talking Machine Company, which
produced machines for playing disc records. The company was named "The Victor"
in honor of legal victories by Johnson and Berliner over Zonophone and others
concerning their rights to patents on and distribution of their products.
On February 26, 1985, Johnson posthumously received the 1984 Grammy Trustee
Award, given to persons who made a significant contribution in the field of
recording. This award is on display at the Johnson Victrola Museum located in
Dover, Delaware.
Eldridge Reeves Johnson (February 6, 1867 in Wilmington, Delaware - November
15, 1945 in Moorestown, New Jersey) co-created the Victor Talking Machine
Company alongside Emile Berliner, a United States corporation, and built it into
the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of
the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time.
The company was incorporated in Camden, New Jersey in October 1901 by Johnson.
The Victor Talking Machine Company was created by merger and reorganization of
two existing companies: Emile Berliner's Berliner Gramophone Company, which
produced disc records, and Johnson's Consolidated Talking Machine Company, which
produced machines for playing disc records. The company was named "The Victor"
in honor of legal victories by Johnson and Berliner over Zonophone and others
concerning their rights to patents on and distribution of their products.
On February 26, 1985, Johnson posthumously received the 1984 Grammy Trustee
Award, given to persons who made a significant contribution in the field of
recording. This award is on display at the Johnson Victrola Museum located in
Dover, Delaware.