Telling the Story

Listed below are links to primary and secondary sources for studying the Johnstown Flood. Your teacher will give you directions for using them in class and on your museum visit. There is a short explanation of primary and secondary sources here, if you aren’t familiar with those terms.

Before your Museum Visit

General Background on the Flood

• Johnstown Flood Story
• Johnstown Flood Timeline (PDF)
• Path of the Johnstown Flood Map (PDF)
• Historic Map Gallery

Describing the Indescribable/Imagining the Unimaginable

Eyewitness stories: Survivors

• Mr. George Barbour
• Mary M. Butler
• Rev. H.L. Chapman
• Victor Heiser 
• George M. Graham, M.D.
• Colonel John P. Linton
• Miss Louise Mueller
• Charles R. Phipps
• Gertrude Quinn
• C.C. Ramsey
• Mr. Morrell Swank
• Mr. W.B. Tice
• Mr. Henry Viering

Eyewitness Reports

• Pennsylvania Railroad employees
• Beale’s account by Rev. G.W. Brown

Flood Destruction Picture Galleries

• Photographers tell the story of the Flood’s destruction
• 3-D photo gallery of the Flood’s destruction
• MORE

During your Museum Visit

• Silent Survivors: The Tales I Could Tell (PDF)
• Telling the Flood Story: Message and Medium
• Photo gallery: Artifact Survivors

After your Museum Visit

Same Flood, Different Stories

Eyewitness stories: Survivors

• Mr. George Barbour
• Mary M. Butler
• Rev. H.L. Chapman
• Victor Heiser 
• George M. Graham, M.D.
• Colonel John P. Linton
• Miss Louise Mueller
• Charles R. Phipps
• Gertrude Quinn
• C.C. Ramsey
• Mr. Morrell Swank
• Mr. W.B. Tice
• Mr. Henry Viering

Eyewitness Reports

• Pennsylvania Railroad employees
• Beale’s account by Rev. G.W. Brown

Official Reports

• Engineering and Building Record’s special report on the Johnstown Flood
• Board of Health report

Newspapers

• Johnstown Weekly Tribune, June 14, 1889
  • “Before the Reservoir Came”
  • “Our Calamity”
• Harper’s Weekly supplement
• The Johnstown Horror
  • Pamphlet (PDF)
  • Book selections
  • Ad for book (PDF)

Every Picture Tells a Story

Photo Galleries

• Photographers tell the story of the flood’s destruction
• 3-D photo galleries
  • The flood’s destruction
  • Flood survivors
  • Relief efforts
• Stereoviews (visible without 3-D glasses)
  • The flood’s destruction
  • Flood survivors
• Library of Congress photos of flood damage
• Other flood survivor photos

Heroes and Hoaxes: Sung and Unsung

• Photo gallery: Hoaxes and heroes
• Fact or fiction:
  • The “Paul Revere of Johnstown”
  • The “Peerless Rider,” part 1
• Real heroes
  • John Parke rides to South Fork: The “Peerless Rider,” part 2
  • Hettie Ogle’s “Last Message” 
  • John Hess ties the whistle down
  • A canine hero?

Sheet Music: Songs inspired by the flood

• Ballad: “The Johnstown Flood” by Joseph Flynn
• Ballad: “That Valley of Tears” by William Thomas (PDF)
• Ballad: “My Last Message” by JP Skelly (PDF)
• Instrumental: “Peerless Rider March” (PDF)
• Instrumental: “The Johnstown Flood” by Alberto Rivieri