Guide to the Records of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association,1904-1940

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Records of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association
Creator
Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Collection Number
MSS#162
Extent
.75 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Date
1904-1940
Abstract
Journalists, who covered the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889 for regional and national newspapers, formed the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association. The Association's members also included people involved in the relief effort from Pittsburgh who arrived in Johnstown (Cambria County), Pennsylvania shortly after the flood. These records include correspondence, minutes, newspaper clippings and other sundry items documenting the organization and membership of the Association.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Tanya Rocosky and Corey Seeman on April 10, 1995. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Summer, 2001.
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association (1889-1939)

Journalists, who covered the great Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889 for regional and national newspapers, formed the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association. The Association's members also included people involved in the relief effort from Pittsburgh who arrived in Johnstown (Cambria County), Pennsylvania shortly after the flood. The Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889 occurred in the Conemaugh River Valley after several days of heavy rain. The dam at the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club broke and a 40-foot wall of water roared down the Conemaugh River Valley nearly 14 miles to the city of Johnstown. The inland "tidal wave" swept away buildings, trees, and trains that collected at the Stone Bridge in Johnstown. Embers from stoves and engines ignited the debris and started a major fire that laid waste too much of the city. When the water receded and the fires were extinguished, 2,235 people were dead and property damage was estimated at ten million dollars. Journalists from all over the country came to Johnstown to report on the disaster and relief efforts were undertaken from many of the region's larger cities. The people involved in reporting the disaster and in providing relief to the citizens of Johnstown endured hunger and lived in transient quarters, much like the displaced residents.

The Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association first met in 1889 and had annual dinners to reminisce about the work undertaken at Johnstown. The annual meetings were held in the spring, near the anniversary of the flood. There were 123 original members of the Association and they were primarily made up of Pittsburgh journalists. Membership in the Association became a badge of honor among the best journalists in the region and membership was almost universally included in their obituaries. Some members of the Association left journalism to pursue other interests including Philadelphia Mayor J. Hampton Moore and Kennywood Park President Andrew S. McSwigan. The Association primarily met at various Pittsburgh hotels including the Hotel Schenley, Webster Hall Hotel, William Penn Hotel, and Hotel Henry. Other sites that hosted the annual meetings included the Pittsburgh Press Club, members' homes, the Pennsylvania Training School in Morganza (Cecil Township, Washington County), Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Athletic Association, and Kennywood Park in West Mifflin (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania. The Association met at least twice at Kennywood at the invitation of park president and member Andrew S. McSwigan. He orchestrated the 1924 meeting at Kennywood, but passed away prior to the meeting. For their fiftieth reunion in 1939, a half dozen survivors returned to Johnstown to see the city fifty years after the flood. The Association ceased after 1939 because of dwindling membership. Prominent members included Fred J. Heinz, who was the secretary of the Association from 1915 until the folding of the organization, and General A. J. Logan, a Pittsburgh manufacturer and civic booster, who joined the Association through his work with the relief effort in Johnstown after the flood.

Scope and Content Notes

These records include correspondence, minutes, newspaper clippings and other sundry items documenting the organization and membership of the Association. The correspondence primarily includes letters written to club secretary Fred J. Heinz by members concerning their ability or inability to attend Association meetings. Most of the letters, and all of the reply cards, are regrets from members unable to attend and provide little information about their experiences at Johnstown. However, occasional letters provide reminiscences of the flood, including one written on May 19, 1909 by H. W. English. The minutes provide accounts of the Association's annual meetings from 1911 until 1938 including information on members attending, speeches given on the flood, and toasts to deceased members. Of note in the minutes are a list of journalists and the newspapers they represented during the time of the flood (1914), reminiscences by Erasmus Wilson (1921), an account of the origin of the Association (1921), and account of a tour of the Pennsylvania Training School in Morganza (1923), and the establishment of a memorial tablet in honor of member Andrew S. McSwigan at Kennywood Park (1929). News clippings include obituaries of members and prominent figures involved with the Johnstown Flood and news stories about their meetings. The obituaries are arranged alphabetically by member name. Miscellaneous materials include menus and invitations from annual dinners, membership lists and specific information about members, material relating to the Pittsburgh Press Club, an article on Philadelphia newsmen at the Johnstown Flood (1925), poems, and historical writings. Of note is a 1936 historical sketch by Philadelphia Mayor J. Hampton Moore, who was a reporter for the Philadelphia Ledger, and a larger version from a reprint of the Congressional Record (1939). These records provide a good overview of the activities of the Association between 1904 and 1939 and documentation of the work of journalists and relief efforts at Johnstown in 1889.

Arrangement

The Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association Records are arranged alphabetically by folder title with miscellaneous materials arranged to the rear

The Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association Records are housed in two archival boxes.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These items came in one accession in 1939.

Acc# 1939x Gift of Fred J. Heinz, (Records. Fred J. Heinz was the secretary of the Association. Materials donated by Heinz documenting A. J. Logan's relief activity in 1889 have been transferred to the General Albert J. Logan Papers MSS# 96.

Preferred Citation

Records of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association, 1904-1940, MSS# 162, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Tanya Rucosky and Corey Seeman on April 10, 1995.

Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on May 31, 2001.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • Kennywood Park (West Mifflin, Pa.)
    • Pennsylvania Training School (Morganza, Pa.)
    • Pittsburgh Press Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

    Personal Names

    • Heinz, Fred J.
    • Logan, Albert J. (1857-1934)
    • McSwigan, Andrew S. (1865-1923)
    • Moore, J. Hampton (1864-1950)

    Geographic Names

    • Washington County (Pa.) -- Education
    • Johnstown (Pa.) -- Social Life and Customs
    • Johnstown (Pa.) -- Flood, 1889

    Other Subjects

    • Associations, institutions, etc. -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Clubs -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Education -- Pennsylvania -- Washington County
    • Floods -- Pennsylvania -- Johnstown
    • Journalists -- Biography
    • Journalists -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Societies and Clubs
    • Newspapers -- Pennsylvania

Container List

Minutes, 1910-1938
Containers
Box 1, Folder 5
Miscellaneous Materials, 1904-1938
Containers
Box 2, Folder 3