BARANGAYS, FRIARS, AND "THE MILD SWAY OF JUSTICE"
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Inscribed Bamboo from the Philippines.
These specimens of Filipino writing in old Indic script,
which are similar to ancient scripts used in neighboring
Indonesia and to modern script incised on bamboo, were
gathered on the island of Mindoro around 1938. The Library's
collection of fifty-five bamboos in prose and twenty-two
in verse provides a glimpse into Mangyan (Hampangan) and
Tagbanua society. Many of the manuscripts reflect indigenous
traditions that remained with the Mangyan because of their
relative isolation. The Tagbanua manuscripts are cylindrical,
while the Mangyan are often semicylindrical or tablets
made from one-fourth to one-third of the circumference
of the bamboo. (Fletcher Gardner Collection, Asian
Division) |
The Philippine Islands fell under Spanish colonial control within
fifty years of Magellan's fateful landing in 1521. One of the
earliest words the Spanish learned from local residents was "barangay," a
group of people living under the authority of a chief, or "datu." The
Spanish quickly saw the value of the system and used their relationships
with the barangay leaders to administer the islands. From the
beginning of Spanish rule, Roman Catholic missionaries exerted
strong influence. With the exception of the southernmost island
of Mindanao, where Islam had started to take root in the late
fifteenth century, missionaries found fertile ground. The Philippines
is now the only country in Asia with a Catholic majority. Under
the Spanish colonial system, the friars of the Augustinian, Dominican,
and Franciscan orders, and the Jesuits played a role well beyond
the purely religious, often serving as powerful local administrators.
Spanish rule ended when American forces defeated the Spanish
in 1898. Pres. William McKinley declared that the United States
would replace Spain's "arbitrary rule" with "the mild sway of
justice and right" and, despite local resistance, the Philippines
came under U.S. administration. Following World War II and the
Japanese occupation, the Philippines achieved full independence
in 1946. Over the years, the Library has developed a fine collection
on the history of the Philippines during this period.
Of the many languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines,
about 90 percent of the population speaks eight: Tagalog, Cebuano,
Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicolano, Waray-Waray, Pampangan, and Pangasinan.
All are part of the Malayo-Polynesian-language family. When
the Spaniards arrived in the sixteenth century, they found that
a system of writing based on Indic script was in use. The script
was used only for letters and messages, however, and no written
literature or official records existed. Thus, early accounts
of the Philippines are virtually all in Spanish, as are historical
records of the Spanish colonial period. After 1898, English became
the language of government and education. The Library's holdings
on the pre-independence Philippines are, therefore, largely in
these two languages and are found outside the Asian Division.
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Doctrina Christiana (1593).
The first book printed in the Philippines, the Doctrina
Christiana presents basic Roman Catholic doctrine
not only in Spanish but also in Tagalog, which later
became the national language of the Philippines.
Tagalog is printed both in its Indic-derived writing
system and in Roman script. Written by the Franciscan
Friar Juan de Plasencia and printed with wood blocks
by the Dominican Order in Manila, the Doctrina
Christiana held by the Library is the only known
surviving copy. (Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book
and Special Collections Division)
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Early Spanish accounts such as Diego de Aduarte's 1640 Historia
de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario and the first book
printed in Manila, Doctrina Christiana, can be found
in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The Manuscript
Division has material from the Spanish period, such as records
of the Catholic Church in the Philippines from 1707 to 1799;
a 1654 history of the Jesuits in Mexico, Guatemala, and the
Philippines; and a microfilm copy of the Urbanite collection
from the Vatican Library. The last covers English, French,
and Spanish exploration from 1501 to 1626, including some material
on the Philippines.
The Manuscript Division also holds valuable material on the
Philippine campaign of the Spanish-American War, notably the
papers of Gen. John J. Pershing. Of special interest to students
of the beginning of American involvement in the Philippines is
the Wildman brothers' unique collection of documents and photographs
from the turn of the century. Rounsevelle Wildman was American
Consul in Hong Kong during the Spanish-American War and the following
armed struggle between the Philippine independence movement and
the United States from 1899 to 1901. He maintained close contact
with pro-independence Filipinos in Hong Kong. His brother, Edwin,
covered the Philippine war as a correspondent, and his journals
and photos are also part of the Wildman collection. Other material
on the Philippine war against the United States includes papers
from the Philippine military commander Emilio Aguinaldo and the
U.S.- Philippine war collection of some three hundred documents.
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The Voice of the Philippine
Revolution (1899). In the wake of Commo. George Dewey's destruction of Spain's
Pacific Fleet in Manila Bay, Emilio Aguinaldo declared
the independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898. El
Heraldo de la Revolución began semiweekly publication
in September, continuing until fighting broke out between
the Americans and Aguinaldo's forces on February 4, 1899. (Southeast
Asian Collection, Asian Division)
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The American colonial period and World War II are well covered
by the Library's holdings. As the result of a microfiche project
by the Jakarta Field Office, the Asian Division has hundreds
of volumes from the American Historical collection documenting
the American era in the Philippines. The General Collections
and, to a certain extent, the Manuscript Division also have important
material on the period. Of special value to scholars are the
papers of William Howard Taft, who, before becoming President
of the United States, chaired the Second Philippine Commission
(1900-1901) and served as Governor-General of the Philippines
from 1901 to 1904. A large collection of documents from Gen.
Leonard Wood, an army officer who served as Governor General
of the Philippines from 1921 to 1927, covers an especially difficult
period in American-Filipino relations. The papers of Andres Soriano,
who served on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff during World War
II, are in the Manuscript Division. A number of rare photographs
from the late 1890s to World War II, including photographs of
the region, are held in the Prints and Photographs Division's
Detroit Publishing Company collection.
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A Trio of Filipino Patriots.
Published by the Philippines Free Press in 1929, this poster-sized
photograph shows
the three leading figures of the Filipino nationalist movement
in Europe in the late nineteenth century: Jose Rizal, Marcelo
H. del Pilar, and Mariano Ponce. The trio was the moving
force behind a movement called "La Solidaridad." (Southeast
Asian Collection, Asian Division) |
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