The 2011 Heritage Preservation Awards honored David McCullough, Outstanding Achievement Award; Richard Mayer, Distinguished Service Award; Dr. James Alexander, Heritage Preservation Award; and Dr. Barbara Zaborowski, Heritage Preservation Award. Information on each of the honorees is available on this website.

David McCullough, Outstanding Achievement Award
The Johnstown Area Heritage Association held its Second Annual Heritage Preservation Awards on April 30, 2011. Below is information about Outstanding Achievement honoree David McCullough. Also honored in 2011 were: Richard Mayer, Distinguished Service; Dr; Jim Alexander; and Barbara Zaborowski.
The 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award honoree: David McCullough David McCullough received the Outstanding Achievement Award primarily for his role in preserving Johnstown history through his book, The Johnstown Flood, which is considered the best popular history of the flood. Click here for a video detailing Mr. McCullough's accomplishments that was shown at the awards event. Ways McCullough and his book have helped preserve and promote Johnstown history include: Research McCullough conducted for The Johnstown Flood in the early 1960s included interviews with many elderly flood survivors who have since died. The transcript of his interview with Victor Heiser is in JAHA's archives, and a portion of the interview recording is featured at the Johnstown Flood National Memorial visitor center. The 1968 publication of The Johnstown Flood predates the 1971 founding of JAHA's predecessor, The Johnstown Flood Museum Association, and the 1973 opening of the Johnstown Flood Museum. But according to Richard Burkert, JAHA president, interest generated by the book was vital to the formation of both. Since its publication, The Johnstown Flood has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to visit here. McCullough assisted in the production of Charles Guggenheim's Academy Award-winning documentary on the flood, which was commissioned for the Johnstown Flood Museum in the late 1980s. He later served as host for a longer version of the film when it was featured on the PBS series American Experience. McCullough returned to Johnstown in 1989 to serve as keynote speaker for the Johnstown Flood Centennial, which was produced by JAHA. In 1997, McCullough helped persuade the president of Bethlehem Steel to halt demolition on historically significant buildings, including the Blacksmith Shop, in what is now the Cambria Iron & Steel National Historic Landmark. McCullough wrote, "The age of steel in America can fairly be said to have begun there, and so those buildings aren't just landmarks in the story of Johnstown, but in the history of our country."
About the Heritage Preservation Award event on April 30, 2011 The Heritage Preservation Awards will be presented at a dinner event on April 30, which will be held at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center. The event's major sponsor is Peoples Natural Gas Co., which was founded in 1885 in Pittsburgh as the first natural gas company recorded in Pennsylvania. Today, Peoples serves more than 359,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 16 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. A volunteer event committee is organizing the event. For ticket information, click here.
2011 Heritage Preservation Awards Committee Chair: Linda Thomson, President, Johnstown Area Regional Industries Dr. Walter Asonevich, President, Penn Highlands Community College Jeffrey Lavine Claudia Jones, 2010 Heritage Preservation Award honoree Dr. Paul Douglas Newman, Professor of Early American History, Assistant to the Vice-President of Academic Affairs & Director of Student Academic Services at Pitt-Johnstown