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In the Johnstown neighborhood of Cambria City are located five historical, ethnic churches. In 2009, the Altoona/Johnstown Diocese closed four of the churches and renamed the more fifth church. Each of these churches has celebrated a centennial and one has celebrated a quasquicentennial. Before the churches were de-sanctified, each one was photo-documented and a description developed to explain the location and history of realia contained in the church. In addition, print materials were digitized related to each church (e.g. church newsletters, event flyers, bulletins.) The ethnicities of the churches were German, Slovak, Irish, Polish/Hungarian, and Croatian. less

This collection includes scans of immigration declarations registered in Cambria County from 1835-1991. Information includes name, place of departure, country of origin, and age.

As part of the 150th commemoration of the Civil War, the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College has digitized a diary and personal letters associated with Cambria County more soldiers who fought in the war. The Quartermaster for General Grant’s army in the west wrote the letters from 1852-1865; the letters have not been transcribed and are only available in .jpg format. less

This collection features items collected from the public that focus on the immigrant and ethnic heritage of Cambria County.

In 1900, there were 34 sanatoriums in the United States. By 1925 there were 536. The Cresson Sanatorium was one of the earlier sanatoriums and provides more a record of life at an institution at a time of heightened health concerns and spread of tuberculosis. The Cresson Sanatorium was located in the mountain near the present-day town of Cresson in Cambria County. The "San" as it was known, was in existence from 1913 and 1964 and treated people diagnosed with tuberculosis. Some patients stayed or years, while others who died there were never reclaimed by their families and are interred in a nearby hillside. The items in this collection have been gathered from persons who were patients at the San or who had relatives who were patients there. Most materials were gathered at part of a centennial commemoration of the Cresson Sanatorium. less

On May 31, 1889, the breaking of the South Fork Dam caused the single greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States: the Great more Johnstown Flood. It is the personal accounts and rare photographs of the survivors which are the focus of this project. Published in 1889, many of the selected texts are no longer in print or available for public access. less