This GeoTIFF is a composite image of five georeferenced manuscript maps. The three Van Ness Ordinances of 1856 to 1858 resulted in the creation and mapping of the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. These five manuscript maps were likely made to show the existing land claims in relation to the newly platted streets, parks, and other public spaces. They may have been used in the subsequent resolution of the various land claims. They show many interesting artifacts of the early settlement of the area before it was officially made a part of the city in the mid 1850's. The 1858 date of the five maps is estimated, based on the creation of the Van Ness map in the same year. Part of the Mission district is also covered. A scanned version of this map was georeferenced as part of the Imagined San Francisco project. This project traces the history of urban planning in San Francisco, placing special emphasis on unrealized schemes. Rather than using visual material simply to illustrate outcomes, Imagined San Francisco uses historical plans, maps, architectural renderings, and photographs to show what might have been. By enabling users to layer a series of urban plans, the project presents the city not only as a sequence of material changes, but also as a contingent process and a battleground for political power. Savvy institutional actors--like banks, developers, and many public officials--understood that in some cases to clearly articulate their interests would be to invite challenges. That means that textual sources like newspapers and municipal reports are limited in what they can tell researchers about the shape of political power. Urban plans, however, often speak volumes about interests and dynamics upon which textual sources remain silent. Mortgage lenders, for example, apparently thought it unwise to state that they wished to see a poor neighborhood cleared, to be replaced with a freeway onramp. Yet visual analysis of planning proposals makes that interest plain. So in the process of showing how the city might have looked, Imagined San Francisco also shows how political power actually was negotiated and exercised. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
