Search/Browse/Download the Data

Now there are two ways to access the BiblioPhilly medieval manuscripts:

Search/Browse the Collections via the BiblioPhilly Interface:
http://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu

Get the Data on OPenn:
http://openn.library.upenn.edu/html/bibliophilly_contents.html

The BiblioPhilly interface, launched in November, allows users to search manuscripts by type, century, culture, repository. It includes a page-turning interface and a new feature — collation diagrams that allow researchers to go beyond the page and into the actual construction of the bound volume.

Jordan Rothschild, Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image at the Penn Libraries, checks digitized images from Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis MS E160 against the manuscript.
Jordan Rothschild, Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image at the Penn Libraries, checks digitized images from Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis MS E160 against the manuscript. Click image for a behind-the-scenes look at the imaging and cataloging processes.

The OPenn Repository allows users to view manuscripts and to download them in bulk, as noted below.

In January 2013, the University of Pennsylvania LIbraries’ Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) embarked on a project to build a website to provide open access to selected digital assets in both human-readable and machine-readable formats. On May 1, 2015 SIMS launched that site, OPenn: Digital Primary Sources Available to Everyone.

OPenn’s digital data sets consist of master TIFF files, web JPEG images, thumbnail images, and XML manuscript descriptions. All sets are available as free cultural works and as such are released into the public domain or under Creative Commons CC0, CC-BY or CC-BY-SA licenses. These licensing structures permit users to have unmediated access to any data we provide, from a single image to the entire data set.

All images and metadata on this site available may be freely studied, applied, copied, or modified by anyone, for any purpose. Users can download individual pages or complete manuscripts in high-resolution using simple file-transfer protocols.

OPenn holds images of manuscript collections at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Manuscripts, and Archives at the University of Pennsylvania. Other OPenn collections include additional units at the University of Pennsylvania, such as the University of Pennsylvania Archives, the Penn Museum, and the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the HIstory of Nursing. OPenn datasets are also drawn from many PACSCL members for the Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis and Diaries projects, as well as selected manuscripts from other libraries and private collections.