CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

university in Pennsylvania

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ7896148 ↗
Source-derived summary

The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ or Pitt-Johnstown) is a state-related college in Richland Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, near the city of Johnstown. A baccalaureate degree-granting, regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh, UPJ was founded in 1927 as one of the first regional campuses of a major university in the United States.

History

The University of Pittsburgh first established a presence in the area prior to World War I, when the Johnstown School Board asked the university to offer continuing education courses at extension class sites in local teachers' institutions. By 1926, a more permanent relationship was sought by the school board, and UPJ was officially founded as a two-year college of the University of Pittsburgh on September 24, 1927. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s it held classes in the Johnstown High School building in the Kernville neighborhood which adjoins downtown Johnstown. After World War II, the Johnstown College moved to the Moxham section of the city where the number of courses and students increased. In the early 1960s, community leaders worked with the University of Pittsburgh to build a new campus in suburban Richland Township. The new campus opened in 1967 with two classroom buildings, five dormitories, and a student union. Degree-granting status was awarded to UPJ by the University of Pittsburgh in 1970. The campus has grown significantly since that time with five academic buildings, a library, an expanded student union, a sports and aquatic center, a conference center, a chapel, a performing arts center, and a large cluster of dormitories, lodges, townhouse apartments and other student residence housing.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown” as university in Pennsylvania. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around University, Pittsburgh and Johnstown.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1927, 1926, 1967, 1970—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1927. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with University, Pittsburgh and Johnstown providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown”, the useful work is to connect “university in Pennsylvania” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7896148. Authority coordinates are 40.268, -78.835. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1926, 1967 and 1970.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown primary sources, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown archive and University research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.