The Johnstown Calamity [Johnstown, Pa. Flood, 1889]: Wreck of the Catholic Church – Vintage Wall Art
![The Johnstown Calamity [Johnstown, Pa. Flood, 1889]: Wreck of the Catholic Church, c1889. — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/c3/c388f3f1ecac-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of The Johnstown Calamity [Johnstown, Pa. Flood, 1889]: Wreck of the Catholic Church. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
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The Johnstown Calamity [Johnstown, Pa. Flood, 1889]: Wreck of the Catholic Church
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This stereograph shows a Catholic church reduced to wreckage after the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, when the South Fork Dam above the city gave way and a wall of water swept down the Little Conemaugh River. The rush of water killed more than 2,000 people and tore through the mill town's low-lying neighborhoods, leaving buildings splintered and piled together. Stereo cards like this one were made to be viewed through a special lens, so the two nearly identical images merge into a single scene with depth, bringing viewers close to the ruined streets. Photographer George Barker's views were sold widely, helping many people far from Pennsylvania see the disaster for themselves.
| Created / published | c1889. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph. |
| Subjects | Stereo copyrighted by George Barker. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Churches--Pa.; Floods--1889; Death--Misc.; Shelf. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,196 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-136156 |
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