About Mapping Penn: Land Acquisitions, 1870 – 2007

“Mapping Penn: Land Acquisitions, 1870 – 2007” is a web-based, geographic data application open to the public.  It was developed by the University of Pennsylvania’s University Archives and Records Center in partnership with the University's Cartographic Modeling Laboratory.  The website is designed to assist University-based planning and development, scholarly research and the general public in efforts to analyze, interpret and understand the history of the growth of the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia.

Mapping Penn directly supports broad and detailed analysis of the growth of one of the nation’s largest urban campuses.   The online mapping and reporting tools can be used to focus on a specific lot, name, year, or address.  Users are able to create maps, reports, and queries.

Mapping Penn’s user-friendly format and simple instructions keeps training requirements to a minimum.  The user may rely on standard hardware and software in accessing and utilizing the site (recommended web-browser: Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, using a Windows platform).  Users have the power to access, analyze and map data drawn from the public record of deeds and the University Archives’ records of University property.  Currently, Mapping Penn incorporates 12 data elements, grouped into two categories:

·                     Land Purchase and Sale Data

·                     Parcel and Location Data

Data elements will be updated on an annual basis. The data was last updated on September 2007.  Users can view and analyze these data elements using several different query and graphical tools.

More information on the University Archives and Records Center and the history of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia may be found at the following url: http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/upwphil/upwphil.html.

Acknowledgements
The Cartographic Modeling Laboratory was an invaluable partner for making this data web-accessible to the University community and the general public.  Important GIS data was provided by the City of Philadelphia through Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access.  CAD data used to create footprints of current University buildings was provided by Facilities and Real Estate Services of the University of Pennsylvania and the Department of Real Estate and Architecture of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The research and compilation of information which led to the creation of the base data on land acquisitions were conducted by several University students and staff who worked at the University Archives:

·                     Norma Rosado-Blake

·                     Ryan M. Janda

·                     Christopher M. Rooney

·                     Martin J. Hackett

·                     J.M. Duffin

About the University Archives and Records Center
The University Archives and Records Center is the official repository of all inactive and historical records of the University's administrative offices, academic departments, committees, and student groups.  It is responsible to the academic community and to the public for the orderly retention and disposition of all University records, both active and inactive, and for the timeless preservation of historically significant documents and other materials which reflect the University's origins and development and the activities and achievements of its officers, faculty, students, alumni, and benefactors.

The University Archives and Records Center

University of Pennsylvania

North Arcade, Franklin Field

Philadelphia, PA 19104-6320

Tel 215.898.7024  Fax 215.573.2036

 

 

Sources

 

Unless otherwise noted in the Transaction Notes, all the land transaction data for Mapping Penn was taken directly from the official deed records at the Department of Records, City of Philadelphia and the original deed records in the University Real Estate Title Papers collection of the University Archives and Records Center (transferred from the Office of the Treasurer, University of Pennsylvania).  Please note that the data on the Registry Plan numbers was compiled from the Department of Records’ Deed Registry Plans, available on-line at ParcelExplorer .

 

 

Disclaimer

The maps and data displayed on this site have been prepared for the inventory of real property acquired and sold by the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia since 1870. Users of this site are hereby notified that the public primary information sources should be consulted for verification of the information contained on the maps and in the databases presented on this web site. Neither the University of Pennsylvania, the University Archives and Records Center, the Cartographic Modeling Laboratory, nor their collaborators assume any legal responsibility for the information displayed on maps or associated data presented on this web site.  In no event shall the University, the University's agencies, or the officers, employees, agents, or representatives of any of the foregoing be liable for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, incidental, exemplary or consequential damages arising your accessing or using the site or any information displayed on the site, or otherwise arising from the site or from anything contained in or displayed on the site.  The University of Pennsylvania makes no warranty or representation whatsoever, express or implied, with respect to the quality, content, accuracy, completeness, currency, freedom from computer virus, suitability for any particular purpose, or non-infringement of proprietary rights, of any of the information published on this site, or any of the design, text, graphics, images, pages, interfaces, links, software, or other materials, documents, and items contained in or displayed or published on this site.