Acknowledgements
A company history such as this could not have been completed, perhaps even started, without a great deal of assistance and support of those interested in local, business, or technological history. I am therefore principally indebted to Richard Burkert of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association for his continuous interest in and support of this project, and his willingness to extend the resources of JAHA to bring about its publication. Appreciation must also be extended to the Directors and personnel of the Johnstown Corporation, particularly Joseph Wilson, Mary Diehl, James Jock, and John Swick, for their invaluable assistance and their tolerance of my scouring through mill records, drawings, blueprints and photographs, not to mention through the mill itself, for over two years.
Archival support was enthusiastically given me by the Filson Club of Louisville, Kentucky; the Birmingham (Ala.) Public Library; the Hagley Library in Wilmington, Delaware; the Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh; and the Murphy Library of La Crosse, Wisconsin. My primary research was supported in part by Faculty Research Grants from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, and research contracts from the National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology (NCEMT) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).
I also owe a debt to those who graciously read parts or all of earlier drafts and made helpful suggestions: Frederick Bell, Vincent Carossso, Alfred Chandler, Patricia Lister, Michael Nash, and David Ward. My thanks also to Marcia Kelly of JAHA for the original layout and design of the manuscript. My deepest appreciation must be reserved for those individuals who interest in this project seemed to match my own and gave me cause to try to live up to their expectations: George Yater of Louisville, O. E. (Gene) Carson of Short Beach, Connecticut; Gray Fitzsimons of HAER; Jim Moxham of Paradise Valley, Arizona; and of course my wife Donna.