Eastern State Penitentiary Biodiversity Survey (ANSP-ENT-ESP)

The Eastern State Penitentiary Project is conducted by Greg Cowper, Entomology Department Curatorial Assistant at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. It includes a comprehensive survey of the invertebrate fauna of this historic prison now maintained as a stabilized ruin and National Historic Landmark. The penitentiary operated from 1829 to 1971 in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. It is an urban island surrounded by 30 foot high walls on approximately 11 acres. The biodiversity survey began in 2011 & has vouchered the occurrence of more than 1,000 morpho species of invertebrates across 30 taxonomic orders; 27 of these are arthropods and include 16 orders of insects. Greg's interest in the prison stems from the discovery of a 1890 journal article in which Academy Entomology Curator Henry Skinner, also a medical doctor, documents his encounter with an inmate making an insect collection from catches in his exercise yard .

Greg also has an exhibit open to prison visitors in cell 25, Specimen, which has evolved into a 19th Century-like Cabinet of Curiosities.

Contact: Greg Cowper (cowper@ansp.org)

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: e8dd6536-e2b5-423c-b9cf-d1ccbee5ccac

Usage Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

• 1027 specimen records
• 958 (93%) georeferenced
• 106 families
• 201 genera
• 219 species