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
- Path of the Johnstown Flood Map (PDF)
- Historic Map Gallery
Describing the Indescribable/Imagining the Unimaginable
Eyewitness Stories
- Survivor Stories
- Eyewitness Reports
Flood Destruction Picture Galleries
- Photographers Tell the Story of the Flood's Destruction
- 3-D Picture Galleries (use 3-D glasses to see 3-D effect)
- Stereoviews (visible without 3-D glasses)
- Library of Congress Photos of Flood Damage
Newspaper Illustrations
During your Museum Visit
- Silent Survivors: The Tales I Could Tell (PDF)
- Telling the Flood Story: Message and Medium (PDF)
- Surviving Artifacts Picture Gallery
After Your Museum Visit
Same Flood, Different Stories
Survivor Stories
Eyewitness Stories
- Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) employees
- Colonel Unger's statement to the PRR
- South Fork witnesses interviewed by the PRR
- Rev. G. W. Brown, South Fork
Official Reports
Newspapers
- Johnstown Weekly Tribune, June 14, 1889
- Harpers Weekly Supplement, June 15, 1889 (Tabloid-size PDF; print at 60% for letter-size)
- The Johnstown Horror
- Pamphlet (Letter-size PDF)
- Book selections
- Ad for book (Letter-size PDF)
Every Picture Tells a Story
Picture Galleries
- Photographers Tell the Story of the Flood's Destruction
- 3-D Picture Galleries (use 3-D glasses to see 3-D effect)
- Stereoviews (visible without 3-D glasses)
- Library of Congress Photos of Flood Damage
- Other Flood Survivor Photos
Heroes and Hoaxes: Sung and Unsung
- Hoaxes and Heroes Picture Gallery
- Fact or Fiction
- Real Heroes
Sheet Music: Songs Inspired by the Flood
- Ballad: "The Johnstown Flood," Joseph Flynn | PDF version
- Ballad: "That Valley of Tears," William Thomas | PDF version
- Ballad: "My Last Message," J. P. Skelly | PDF version
- Instrumental: "The Peerless Rider March," Henry J. Lincoln | PDF version
- Instrumental: "The Johnstown Flood," Alberto Rivieri | PDF version