Reverend David J. Beale Collection
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Visual images of different areas of Johnstown, PA in the late 19th through the early 20th centuries, depicting street scenes from before and after the 1889 flood, significant buildings and shelters, and more. Of note are several photographs taken in the aftermath of the 1889 Flood that highlight the destructive force of this event and its impact on the Johnstown community as well as images from the earliest incarnations of the American Red Cross.
What's in the entire collection?
The Reverend David J. Beale’s Collection consists of materials related to Rev. David Beale’s life in Johnstown. There are family photographs, correspondence, receipts, notebooks from David Beale’s childhood, letters, notes, books and personal diaries. Other materials are scrapbooks, Bibles, and autographs. The Beale Collection is intertwined with the history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood beyond the photographs, there are notebooks with names of those who left Johnstown in 1890, the personal diaries span the years of 1859 to 1899, morgue ledgers. The collection contains a copy of Rev. David Beale’s own account of the flood published in 1890, Through the Johnstown Flood, by a Survivor.
About The Reverend David J. Beale
Reverend Dr. David J. Beale was born on July 1, 1835 in Juniata County, PA. In 1861, Beale graduated from Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Washington, PA, with his BA degree. He received his MA degree in 1864 and his Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Beale was formally ordained to preach in 1863.
On May 31, 1889 Reverend Beale was preparing his sermon for the coming Sunday. Beale heard a noise and, when he looked out the window, saw the flood waters heading in his direction. Beale later recounted his experience: “In a moment after I heard a sound as of an approaching railroad train, when all at once the mighty torrent struck our residence. I cried "Upstairs! Upstairs!" Beale, his family and some neighbors gathered in the parsonage’s attic watching people they knew frantically struggling to survive. Realizing that their lives had been spared, Beale and his group made their way to nearby Alma Hall, a four-story structure in Johnstown that had survived the flood. Of the night in Alma Hall, Beale wrote, "...it was a night of indescribable horror." During that long night, Beale led the survivors in prayer: “That was, indeed, a solemn and impressive occasion. In this service, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, Africans and Chinamen united.” In the aftermath of the flood, Reverend Beale was appointed as the superintendent of the town’s nine temporary morgues.
Beale fell into disfavor with John Fulton, who was a leading elder at Beale’s church and general manager of the Cambria Iron Company. Fulton alleged Beale had wrongfully allowed the church to be used as a morgue without permission, neglected the congregation, charged people money to view the morgue books and made money from the disaster with the publication of his book Through the Johnstown Flood: By a Survivor, which was published in 1890. Beale made a deal with Fulton that if Fulton would apologize in front of the congregation, Beale would leave. Fulton apologized and Reverend Beale and his family left Johnstown on November 1, 1890.
About the Project
The digitization of the David Beale Collection represents a joint effort between the Johnstown Area Heritage Association (JAHA), the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown’s Multimedia and Digital Culture (MMDC) program, and the University of Pittsburgh Library System. The work was funded by a generous archival grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.