Repository: ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title: Carl Truman Johnston Photograph Collection
Creator: Johnston, Carl Truman
Creator: Johnston and Johnston Photography
Collection Number: AIS.2013.08
Extent: 392 items (Prints, negatives, and photograph albums)
Date: 1930-1940s
Abstract: The images in this collection represent Carl Johnston's photographs of the city of Pittsburgh during the 1930s and 1940s and photographs taken for corporate clients. Pittsburgh views include notable buildings such as the Oliver Building, Cathedral of Learning, and the Syria Mosque; bridges such as the Wabash and West End Bridges; and other points of interest including downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland. The 1936 Saint Patrick's Day Flood features prominently in the photograph albums. Corporate photographs include subjects such as machinery and transportation mostly staged for promotional use.
Language: English .
Author: Sarah Hallett.
Publisher: ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address: University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Acquisition Information

Gift of Leslie Laufman on October 14, 2013.

Previous Citation

Carl Truman Johnston Photograph Collection, 1930-1940s, AIS.2013.08, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh

Preferred Citation

Carl Truman Johnston Photograph Collection, 1930-1940s, AIS.2013.08, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Scope and Content Notes

The Carl Truman Johnston Photographs consist of 392 images: 137 black and white cellulose nitrate negatives (8"x10"), 21 black and white cellulose acetate negatives (5"x7" and 8"x10"), six color cellulose acetate negatives (5"x7"), 67 loose black and white gelatin silver prints (4"x5", 5"x7" and 8"x10"), seven bound photograph albums containing 161 black and white gelatin silver prints (8"x10"), and one oversized (14"x17") black and white gelatin silver print.

Pittsburgh views include notable buildings, bridges, and other points of interest. The 1936 Saint Patrick's Day Flood features prominently in the photograph albums. Corporate photographs include subjects such as machinery and transportation which were staged for promotional use.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following three series by format:

Series I. Negatives, 1936, 1940-1941

Series II. Prints, 1936, 1940-1941

Series III. Photograph Albums, 1930-1931, 1936

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Sarah Hallett in January-March 2014.

Biography

Carl Truman Johnston was born November 25, 1902 to Florence Horne and Ralph Waldo Johnston, the oldest of four siblings: Roy, Mary and June. Carl married Mary Louise Anderson and had three children: Ralph Truman, Carl Baker, and Mary Anne. His wife, Mary Louise, died unexpectedly in June 1942. He then married Lillian Anderson Card the following year but the marriage soon ended in divorce. A few years later Marion Stewart Rodgers became his third wife and survived him upon his death on July 2, 1951. Marshall Rodgers, Johnston's third wife's son, became his assistant for a few years prior to his death.

Carl's father, R.W., made a career of photography beginning in the 1890s and gaining increasing recognition in Pittsburgh. He owned Trinity Court Studio in downtown Pittsburgh and, in season, also maintained a studio in Chautauqua, NY. As a youth, Carl became increasingly interested in a photographic career apprenticing with his father and working as assistant on many of his shoots. He started in Erie, Pa., as a photographer in the early 1920s before moving back to Pittsburgh where he collaborated with his father on several projects. However, they both had strong personalities and preferred to work independently. In the early 1930s Carl formed Johnston and Johnston, Inc. with his mother as partner. The original office was located in the Grogan Building but later moved to an older mansion at 1203 Western Avenue. It was featured in Marcia Davenport's book, The Valley of Decision.

Carl specialized as a commercial photographer taking photos of various industrial processes, buildings and events, such as the 1936 Saint Patrick's Day flood. He provided advertising photos for a variety of companies in Pittsburgh including Islay's. At the end of the Second World War, he was commissioned to take photos of Pittsburgh's bridges. The completion of this commission posed a real challenge and he was required to create new techniques to process and print these very large murals. His technique involved cutting through the floor of an upstairs room of an old mansion building to produce the photographs. The photographs were then mounted as huge murals on the walls of the William Penn Hotel's Pittsburgh Room in downtown Pittsburgh. Johnston continued to use this process to create murals including one of The Point. His use of lighting was considered exceptional and notable. He even went so far as to have his assistant crawl into a cement mixer so that it could be more properly photographed.

Gradually Carl's interest and energies were directed beyond just creating photographs for advertising. His work evolved to take advantage of the trend of incorporating storytelling in advertising through the use of text and imagery. Subjects covered by Johnston were varied covering everything from coal mining, to steel making, producing Pepperidge Farm Bread, and operating assembly lines, among others. Traveling to investigate and understand these various subjects, he would study the process, take the pictures and then write text and assemble a brochure. An example of this work can be seen in his commission from Gulf Oil Company where he needed to show how various manufacturing processes used their products. The resulting stories were published in pamphlets that were distributed by the company.

Copyright

The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights and copyrights to the material in this collection.

Subjects

Geographic Names

Downtown (Pittsburgh, Pa.) -- Photographs
Oakland (Pittsburgh, Pa.) -- Pictorial works

Genres

Nitrate negatives
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white prints (Photographs)
Color negatives
Gelatin silver prints
Photograph albums

Other Subjects

Floods -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Photographs
Industries -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
Photographers -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
Railroad yards -- Photographs
Railroads -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region -- Photographs
Buildings -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Photographs
Bridges -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Design and construction -- Photographs
Streets -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
Rivers -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Container List

Series I. Negatives, 1936, ca. 1940s

Scope and Content Notes

The negatives in this series are marked with the photographer's original numbering scheme, F (for Flood) followed by a number: F1, F2, F3, . . . etc.

Subseries 1. The 1936 Flood, March 18, 1936

Containers: box 1-4

Scope and Content Notes

These negatives depict the flood of 1936. They correspond to the prints found in the paperbound photograph albums. Some of the negatives are duplicates and bare a caption and a date adhered to the negative while others have been marked up for editing.

Subseries 2. Marion Steam Shovel and Gulf Cargo Ships, ca. 1940s

Containers: box 5

Scope and Content Notes

These images include 14 black and white cellulose acetate negatives and six color cellulose acetate negatives. The black and white negatives depict scenes from a rock quarry, with a Marion Steam Shovel loading rocks onto Euclid Dump Trucks. There are also negatives of two men inspecting the parts of a welder in a workshop. These negatives correspond to the Marion Steam Shovel prints in Subseries 2. The color negatives depict scenes from what appears to be a port for Gulf Cargo Ships. Some of the images show the ships docked and a man in uniform. Other images show the ships on the water. Also included in these negatives are shots of the Gulf logo and two ships, "GULFWELL" and "GULFRAY." No prints exist for these negatives.

Subseries 3. The Point, August 27, 1941

Containers: box 6

Scope and Content Notes

This subseries is comprised of three black and white cellulose acetate negatives depicting The Point. The images were taken on August 27, 1941.

Series II. Prints, 1936, ca. 1940s

Subseries 1. The 1936 Flood, March 18, 1936

Containers: box 7

Scope and Content Notes

This subseries contains 47 black and white prints of the 1936 flood. The prints correspond to both the negatives and the photograph albums of the 1936 flood.

Subseries 2. Marion Steam Shovel, ca. 1940s

Containers: box 8

Scope and Content Notes

The prints in this subseries correspond to the negatives in Subseries 1.

Subseries 3. The Point, the Wabash Bridge, and the West End Bridge, August 27, 1941

Containers: box 9

Scope and Content Notes

The images of The Point in this subseries correspond to the negatives in Subseries 1. Some of the images have been marked up for editing.

Subseries 4. Hydraulic Press, ca. 1940s

Containers: box 10

Series III. Photograph Albums, 1930-1931, 1936

Subseries 1. The 1936 Flood, March 18, 1936

Containers: box 11-16

Scope and Content Notes

The bound 8"x10" gelatin silver prints contained in six paperback photograph albums depict the flood of 1936.

Photograph Book No. 1 contains 30 images, which document various points of interest along Liberty Avenue, including Diamond Street, Graeme Street, Oliver Street and Market Street, Smithfield Street, Smallman Street, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Street, Seventh Avenue, Ninth Street, 11th and 12th Streets, and Liberty Avenue at Penn Station.

Photograph Book No. 2 contains 29 images documenting Wood Street from various intersections, including Oliver Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Sixth Avenue. Other images depict Water Street, Diamond Street, and businesses and buildings, including First National Bank, Farmers National Bank, and the Grogan Building.

Photograph Book No. 3 contains 21 images documenting the North Side, McKees Rocks, Homestead, Hayes, and Coraopolis.

Photograph Book No. 4 contains 19 images, which document various points along the Waterfront and document the fires that broke out at Waverly Oil Works.

Photograph Book No. 5 contains 11 images documenting Penn Avenue and various businesses, including interior shots of Joseph Horne's.

Photograph Book No. 6 contains 32 images, which focus on Joseph Horne's and Jenkins Arcade, Liberty Avenue, Wood Street, Sixth Avenue, and River Views.

Subseries 2. Views of Pittsburgh, 1930-1931

Containers: box 17

Scope and Content Notes

This album of 51 bound and mounted 8"x10" black and white gelatin silver prints depict buildings, bridges, and points of interest in and around the city of Pittsburgh taken between 1930 and 1931. Images show the Oakland area of Pittsburgh and include prominent buildings on the University of Pittsburgh campus such as the Cathedral of Learning and Alumni Hall. Also included are views of the Carnegie Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Twentieth Century Club, the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education the Syria Mosque, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, various memorials in Schenley Park, and the Schenley Park Hotel. Views of downtown Pittsburgh include various shots of The Point and bridges such as the Liberty Bridge, the Wabash Bridge, the Smithfield Street Bridge, and the Seventh Street Bridge. There are also views of buildings including the Clark Building, The Pittsburgher Hotel, the Grant Building, the Empire Building, the Henry W. Oliver Building, and the Allegheny County Office Building. The album also contains images of the Lights Golden Jubilee which occurred between October 23 and October 28, 1929 honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Edison's incandescent electric lamp.