The collections at the Johnstown Flood Museum archives cover a wide variety of items concerning the history of the Greater Johnstown area, including manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, legal papers, memorabilia, photographs, films, maps, drawings, and more. The images below represent a small portion of our collections.
If you are interested in conducting research, please contact Curator Amy Regan at (814) 539-1889, extension 314.
This collection includes prints, glass-plate negatives, lantern slides, and stereoviews from several different photographers, including R. A. Bonine, Langill & Darling, Charles Burggraf, E. A. Zimmerman, Ernest Walter Histed, and George Barker.
For more views, see here.
[Photographs above include: Remains of the South Fork Dam; Remains of Woodvale; Debris at the Stone Bridge; Cambria Iron Works]
John Fulton was the General Mining Engineer of Cambria Iron Company in Johnstown in the late 1800s. Heritage Johnstown houses six unpublished memoirs by John Fulton about his life, work, and retirement. They are typewritten, annotated, and contain pictures, maps, and keepsakes from his life and travels. Fulton wrote these memoirs about his life and travels, and even made them into a scrapbook in some instances.
A volunteer with Heritage Johnstown scanned these memoirs, and students in Dr. Paul Newman’s Public History Class at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown transcribed the text of three of the six memoirs in 2026. Then, Richland High School student, Saffron Barrett-Ross, spent two months going through the text to review UPJ students’ work and ensure accuracy.
Ireland Vol. 1 1826-1848 John Fulton Box 115 Folder 1 1975.76.1.
Fulton’s ancestry was from Ireland and Scotland. He writes about his family coming to the United States and settling. Fulton writes about Johnstown, the Cambria Iron Co and retiring. He wrote about Celtic heritage, family ancestry, and his religious beliefs. There is information on his travels in Ireland in 1902, such as where he went, who he met, and what he saw.
Retired From Professional Work A. D. 1914 Vol V John Fulton, A, M. E. M. 1975.76.4 Box 116 Folder 2
Fulton writes about the start of World War I and his religious beliefs about World War I. Topics include: Grandview Cemetery, Rev. Dr. Hays, Coke Plants, Fuels for Metallurgical uses, First Presbyterian Church in Johnstown. Much of this memoir is about his life in Johnstown, his family, and still keeping up with his profession even though he retired.
Mining Engineer & General Manager With Cambria Iron Co. Vol III 1874-1893 John Fulton, A.M. E.M.
This memoir focuses on John Fulton’s life in Johnstown PA, working for the Cambria Iron Company. He writes of his arrival to town and settling in Johnstown. He writes about steel production, employment, the company, and workers’ events such as strikes. Fulton also talks about his personal life, his family, friends, and his religious beliefs.He also writes about his 1889 Johnstown Flood experience. Fulton was not in Johnstown at the time of the flood, but his wife and daughter were. He traveled by any means to get back to his family and Cambria Iron Company. Fulton also writes about the recovery of the town and rebuilding after the 1889 Johnstown Flood. He writes about prominent Johnstown figures such as Rev. David Beale, Daniel J. Morrell, Edward Y. Townsend, Powell Stackhouse.
The collection consists of materials pertaining to Flood victims and survivors, the South Fork Dam, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Flood relief, and Flood anniversary events.
[Images above include: South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club receipt; Johnstown Tribune newspaper, June 14, 1889; “That Valley of Tears,” Johnstown Flood sheet music; Invitation from Clara Barton to Johnstown residents for Tea]
This collection consists of photographs and documents covering the Flood of 1936 and its aftermath. (For more information about this Flood, see here.)
[Images above include: D. Mishler and Sons with Railroad Tracks, Dupont; Cars on Clinton St.; Cleanup workers outside Langer Studio, Downtown; National Guard Mess Tent near High school]
Merle Agnello, photographer for The Tribune-Democrat, took a series of photographs documenting the 1977 Flood which are among the best images representing the disaster. The collection also includes official documents, newspapers, scrapbooks, reports, and more. (For more information about this Flood, see here.)
[Images above include: Trailer in Wall of Swank Refractories; House and Church Remains, location unidentified; Water in a Dale Street; Lee Hospital Nurses; Nurse with Amish child.]
The Dwight H. Roberts Papers, donated by Roberts’ granddaughter Mary Adair, primarily consists of diaries, maps, photographs, newspapers, correspondence, and legal papers. These items relate to the Flood of 1889, the Allegheny Portage Railroad, local elections, businesses, transportation systems, the Civil War, and the Roberts and Von Lunen families, as well as extensive research notes and materials pertaining to Forbes Road.
Dwight H. Roberts was a banker, farmer, and local historian. Roberts lost his parents and brother Otis in the 1889 Flood. From 1920-1923 Roberts served as a Cambria County Commissioner.
[Images above include pre-1900s images from the collection.]
