Posted: July 20, 2026 3:24 pm
by Amy Regan, Heritage Johnstown curator
2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1977 Johnstown Flood, and Heritage Johnstown is planning a temporary exhibition to commemorate it. IUP student Heath Moser’s internship this summer was to research the 1977 Johnstown Flood for this exhibit. We are also working on collecting oral histories of the 1977 Johnstown Flood and will have more information on that in the coming year.
Heritage Johnstown’s archives and permanent object collection currently has 1977 Flood Water, 1977 Flood Mud, and a few other relics of the flood. However, the 1977 Johnstown Flood is the least 3D object represented flood in the collection — unless, of course, you count all of the objects on exhibit in 1977 at the Johnstown Flood Museum in the former library.
Before the Johnstown Flood Museum had the exceptional permanent exhibit it does today, there were many temporary exhibits. Our records show that an exhibit was opened on July 13, 1977, just days before the flood. The exhibit consisted of a Pennsylvania Canal display and a woodworkers shop display on the first floor. The second floor was the history of Johnstown, the floods, and Clara Barton. Someone with our organization, which was then the Johnstown Flood Museum Association took a few photos of the following days, showing the exhibits as they existed at that time, as well as 1977 flood damage on the first floor.
If you would like to donate 1977 flood-related archival or 3D objects to Heritage Johnstown, please visit this page!
Please note we will NOT ACCEPT: 1977 Newspapers, 1977 Flood Booklets: The Johnstown Flood 1977 and Johnstown Flood July 20, 1977 Memorial Edition, as we have enough copies of these to satisfy our collection, preservation, and research needs.
