Reading in Philippine history

• History


  Inquiry or research
• John J. Anderson, 1876: 'History is a narration of the events which have happened among mankind, including an account of the rise and fall of nations, as well as of other great changes which have affected the political and social condition of the human race.'
• Aristotle: 'History is a record of unchanging past.'
• Frederick Jackson Turner: 'History is all the remains that have come down to us from the past, studied with all the critical and interpretative power that the present can bring to the task.'
• Teodoro A. Agoncillo: 'History deals with the past, not with the future. We use history to avoid the mistakes of the past, not to recreate the very same events. You cannot.'
• Oscar Handlin: 'History is not the past. History is the distillation of evidence surviving from the past. Where there is no evidence there is no history.'
• Jacob Burckhardt: 'History is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another.'
• Historiography


  The writing of history based on the critical examination of sources and the selection of particulars from the authentic materials. It also includes the synthesis of particulars into a narrative that will stand the test of critical methods.
• Filipino historians and their views on Philippine historiography

  • Gregorio F. Zaide, Er. Horacio Dela Costa and Fr. Jose Arcilla - Philippine History in clerical point of view
  • Teodoro Agoncillo - nationalist point of view of Filipino history (nationalist historiography); said that Philippine History started in 1872
  • Samuel K. Tan-Philippine history is a collective interplay of events; history is not just the work of a particular group of people in a particular place; opposed the Manila-centered history
  • Reynaldo C. Ileto - history from below; "Pasyon at Rebolusyon"
  • Renato Constantind "history is the achievement of man not the individual but the collective"; history from below; masses as real movers of history
  • Zeus A. Salazar - "pantayong pananaw"; use of Filipino language as medium of instruction in teaching history
• The Historian/ Author


  • The person writing/ documenting the events/ history
• Place


  • The location where the history was written
• Period


  • The context of the time when the history was written
• Sources


  • Objects that have been left in the past and that exist either as relic or as testimonies of witnesses to the past
• Nationalism is nourished by a sense of history. It is of its essence to know profoundly the past, so that we may be in complete openness with the men who made that history and to intimate communism with their thoughts, their deeds, and their noble lives.
• History is pre-requisite to nationalism. One cannot truly love his country without loving its history. If one loves a person, he will be much interested and will love to know the history of the person he loves.
• We study history to know and understand the events that took place in the country. These events are both success stories and mistakes. We are studying the success stories for them to serve as an inspiration to further to move forward as a nation. On the other hand, we intend to understand our mistakes to learn from them and to be careful not to commit them again.
• Historical sources


  • Documents
  • Numerical records
  • Oral statements
  • Relics
• Primary source


  A document prepared by an individual who was a participant in, or a direct witness to, the event that is being described
• Secondary source


  A document prepared by an individual who was not a direct witness to an event, but who obtained his or her description of the event from someone else
• Examples of primary sources

  • Diaries
  • Letters
  • Memoirs
  • Journals
  • Speeches
  • Manuscripts
  • Interviews
  • Newspaper or magazine articles
  • Photographs
  • Audio or video recordings
  • Research reports
  • Original literary or theatrical works
• Examples of secondary sources

  • Published works such as journal articles or books
  • Radio or television documentaries
  • Conference proceedings
• External criticism


  • Refers to the genuineness of the documents a researcher uses in a historical study
• Inquiries in external criticism


  • When was the source produced (date)?
  • Where was it produced (localization)?
  • By whom it was produced (authorship)?
  • From what pre- existing material was it produced (analysis)?
  • In what original form was it produced (integrity)?
  • What is the evidential value of its contents (credibility)?
• Internal criticism


  • Refers to the accuracy of the contents of a document
• Considerations in external and internal criticisms

  • Genealogy of the Document
  • Genesis of a Document
  • The Originality of the Document
  • Interpretation of the Document
  • Authorial Authority
  • Competence of the Observer
  • The Trustworthiness of the Observer
• Repositories of primary sources


  • National Archives of the Philippines (NAP)
  • National Library of the Philippines (NLP)
  • National Museum of the Philippines
• The National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) is the repository of public documents such as notaries, birth certificates, government correspondences and records, and maps dating back to the early Spanish conquest in the 1560s.
• The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) has a collection of over 210,000 books, 880,000 manuscripts, 170,000 newspaper issues, 66,000 theses and dissertations, 104,000 government publications, 3,800 maps and 53,000 photographs, including valuable Rizaliana pieces, the original manuscript of the Philippine National Anthem, and documents of five Philippine Presidents.
• The National Museum of the Philippines is the government institution that serves as an educational, scientific and cultural institution in preserving the various permanent national collections featuring the ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological and visual artistry of the Philippines.
• The National Library of the Philippines collections include valuable Rizaliana pieces, four incunabula, the original manuscript of Lupang Hinirang (National Anthem), several sets of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, a collection of rare Filipiniana books previously owned by the Compana General de Tabacos de Filipinas, and the documents of five Philippine Presidents
• The most prized possessions of the National Library, which include Rizal's Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and Mi Ultimo adios, three of his unfinished novels and the Philippine Declaration of Independence, are kept in special double-combination vault at the rare documents section of the Filipiniana Division's reading room
• National Museum of the Philippines

  The government institution in the Philippines that serves as an educational, scientific and cultural institution in preserving the various permanent national collections featuring the ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological and visual artistry of the Philippines
• Since 1998, the National Museum has been the regulatory and enforcement agency of the National Government in the restoring and safeguarding of important cultural properties, sites and reservations throughout the Philippines
• University of the Philippines- Diliman Library


  Primary documents of historical significance during the Spanish and Japanese Period can be seen in the library
• Local Studies Centers


  Described and dedicated for the enrichment and study of one locality's history, culture and related studies
• Some local studies centers in the country

  • Cebuano Studies Center (University of San Carlos, Cebu City)
  • Cavite Studies Center (De La Salle University Dasmariñas)
  • Bahay-saliksikan ng Bulacan (Bulacan State University)
  • Center for Tarlaqueño Studies (Tarlac State University)
  • Cordillera Studies Center (University of the Philippines Baguio)
  • Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies (Holy Angel University)
  • Tayabas Studies and Creative Writing Center (Tayabas, Quezon)
  • Sta. Rosa Studies Center (City of Sta. Rosa, Laguna)
• Functions of local studies centers in the Philippines

  • Serve as clearing house in-charge of collecting, organizing, disseminating and preserving local studies materials of their particular locality
  • Responsible for conducting, publishing and promoting local historical researches
  • Responsible for promoting historical events and creating historical activities
  • Encouraged to establish and sustain linkage and networking with other centers, historical bodies, and government bodies both here and abroad
• Online sites with Spanish era primary sources

  • Archivo Nacional Historico
  • Archivo General de Indians
  • Portal de Archivos Espanoles (PARES)
• Online sites with American period documents

  • Library of Congress
  • Hathl Trust Digital Library
  • Arhive.org
  • University of Michigan Library
• Technical tools in examining sources

  • Paleography
  • Diplomatics
  • Archaeology
  • Statistics
  • Linguistics
  • Genealogy
  • Prosopography
  • Sigillography
  • Heraldry
  • Numismatics