Our Research Approach

The following steps highlight the research approach for this project:

• Obtain CCRs

  • Download subdivisions from Pima County Geographic Information Systems (GIS), filtering subdivisions with recorded dates before 1969;

  • Locate and identify original CCR documents from the Pima County Recorder’s Office (PRCO);

  • Request PDF copies of all CCRs.

• Search CCRs

  • Develop and execute Python script to perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to identify racist and exclusionary terms in the CCRs;

  • Manually verify CCRs for each subdivision by comparing with script output and transcribe racist paragraphs;

  • Use transcribed paragraphs and another python script to create a list of racist and exclusionary terms.

• Volunteer Verification

  • Volunteers assist in second round of manual verification to ensure that each record is verified by two additional persons.

• Final Deliverables

  • CCRs are archived and made available through the UArizona Campus Repository;

  • Create an interactive online map of Tucson subdivisions and neighborhoods using ArcGIS Online.