Multimedia Collection
The Johnstown Flood
VHS
30 minutes
F159 .J7 J81 1989
Produced for permanent exhibition at the Johnstown Flood Memorial Museum, this film by Academy Award winner Charles Guggenheim, tells the story of the events leading up to and following the moment on May 31, 1889, when a private dam burst, sending a wall of water, in some places 70 feet high, roaring down the valley and into the center of the city of Johnstown, PA. Within a matter of minutes the heart of the city had been swept away. Twenty-two hundred men, women and children were dead. Ninety-eight children had lost both parents. One out of every three bodies found would never be identified. Thousands were left homeless and without shelter or food. But this is more than a story of destruction. It is a story of 19th Century America and how some of the most famous industrialists and civic leaders of the time--men like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick--members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club--witnessed the failure of their dam--creating a moment in history that would shock the world.
Contact Us
(541) 737-2538
valley.circ@oregonstate.edu
