"Come to Where the Knowledge Is":
A History of the University City Science Center

Mackenzie S. Carlson, a senior at Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, was a 1999 Summer Research Fellow at the University Archives and Records Center. He conducted his research in the extensive institutional collections of the University Archives, which include once-confidential administrative files, public relations files, Philadelphia newspaper clippings files, and correspondence between all of the individuals principally responsible for the establishment of the Science Center. He also conducted research in secondary sources found in Penn's University Libraries, primary sources in the Philadelphia City Archives, and online sources. His essay appears here without footnotes, bibliography, and other source documentation. A printed copy of the full text is available in the reference collection of the University Archives. All intellectual property rights, including copyright, are reserved by the author and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.

This essay focuses on the development of the University City Science Center -- just one chapter of a much larger story -- the growth of the University of Pennsylvania's involvement in West Philadelphia from 1945 to the present. Click below to view the history of the development of the University City Science Center presented in four parts and a conclusion: Part 1: Basic Building Blocks Part 2: Planning the University City Science Center (1959-1965) Part 3: The Approval Process, Displacement, Protest, and a Lasting Public Relations Disaster (1965-1971) Part 4: Building the University City Science Center (1969-present) Conclusion