Philippines Archives and Libraries
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- Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm.
- If you plan to visit a repository, contact them and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Ask if they require you to have a reader’s ticket (a paper indicating you are a responsible researcher) to view the records, and ask how to obtain one.
- Although the records you need may be in an archive or library, the FamilySearch Library may have microfilmed and/or digitized copies of them.
Archives[edit | edit source]
National Archives of the Philippines
1765 Paz Mendoza Guazon Street
Paco, Manila, Philippines
Phone:(+63 2) 8524-3231 / 8245-3340 / 8245-3341 / 8708-8656 / 8708-8729 / 8521-6830
E-mail:nationalarchives@nationalarchives.gov.ph
Website
Facebook
List of Collections
Libraries[edit | edit source]
Philippine National Library
T. M. Kalaw Street
Ermita, Manila 2801
Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
- The Philippine National Library has a valuable 45,000-volume Filipiniana collection of biographies, local histories, bibliographies, and gazetteers. It also has collections of rare books and manuscripts, newspapers and brochures, and microforms.
The Filipiniana collection at the University of the Philippines Library is also helpful. See:
Filipiniana 1968: A Classified Catalog of Filipinian Books and Pamphlets in the University of the Philippines Library as of January 1, 1968. Diliman, Rizal, Philippines: the University of the Philippines, 1968.
The following libraries shelve Filipiniana collections: The U.S. Library of Congress. The U.S. Library of Congress has a large Filipiniana collection. It has the most comprehensive foreign bibliography on the Philippines (about 18,000 entries) in the Orientalia Division of its:
Southeast Asia Subject Catalog. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, G.K. Hall, 1972. Six Volumes. Volume 4: The Philippines.
Library of Congress
1st–2nd Streets, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20504
Internet: http://www.loc.gov/index.html
- The Ayala Museum Library has over 3,500 rare books and manuscripts:
Ayala Museum Library and Iconographic Archives
Makati Avenue
Makati, Manila
Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
Internet: http://www.ayalamuseum.com
- The Jorge B. Vargas Filipinian Collectionhouses Vargas's personal collection of rarebooks, documents, and manuscripts:
Jorge B. Vargas Filipiniana Foundation
241 Shaw Boulevard
Mandaluyong, Manila
Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
Internet: http://www.vargasmuseum.org
- The Fr. Luis G. Merino Library has rare holdings from 1700 on, Philippine history, architecture, cultural arts, and the restoration of the historic walled City of Intramuros.
The Fr. Luis G. Merino Library
5/F Palacio del Gobernador Building
Gen. Luna Street, Intramuros
Manila, Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
The following collection includes mostly documents from the American occupation period, with some records from the Spanish colonization period, and a few modern records:
U.S. Embassy, American Historical Collection Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila
Philippines
Telephone: (632) 924-4601, ext. 2668
Fax: (632) 924-4428
Many important libraries are listed in:
Dayrit, Marina. Directory of Libraries in the Philippines. Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines: The University of the Philippines Library, 1973.
Provincial Libraries[edit | edit source]
Besides the libraries listed above, each province has a library that stores valuable local histories.
Municipal or City Libraries[edit | edit source]
Some municipalities and cities have libraries that collect local family histories and other important genealogical records.
Museums[edit | edit source]
Record Offices[edit | edit source]
The National Census and Statistics Office (NCSO). The National Census and Statistics Office has the major civil records after 1932 and is currently responsible for all civil registration. Unfortunately, most documents from 1932 to 1945 were destroyed in World War II. Prior to 1974 the office was known as the Bureau of Census and Statistics.
Most vital records should be available at the FamilySearch Library and FamilySearch Centers. The microfilmed records include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage contracts, and notarial records.
Employees of the Philippine National Census and Statistics Office will answer questions. Send family history inquiries to:
Office of the Civil Registrar General
National Statistics Office
EDSA Corner, Times Street
West Triangle, Quezon City 1104
Philippines
Telephone: 926-7373
Fax: 926-7329
Email: L.Hufana@mail.census.gov.ph
Tanggapan Sa Pamamahala Ng Mga Kasulatan At Sinupan (Records Management and Archives Office). The Archive Division of the Records Management and Archives Office (Bureau of Records Management) has approximately 11,000,000 documents from the Spanish colonization period (1552–1898) and a few records from the American occupation period (1898–1946). Unfortunately, thousands of documents have been lost due to careless handling, deliberate destruction, and natural deterioration caused by termites, mold, and moisture.
The FamilySearch Library has filmed the most important genealogical records from this collection, including:
- Cemetery records (cementerios).
- Inheritance records and inventories of personalestates (bienes de difuntos).
- Marriage records (matrimonios).
- Census records (vecindarios, estadísticas, padrones de chinos).
- Military records (quintas, guardia civil, hojas de servicio).
- Immigration and naturalization records(naturalización de Españoles, radicación de estrangeros).
- Notarial records (protocolos).
For more information on these records, see the Philippines Wiki article for each record type.
Foreign Libraries[edit | edit source]
The Newberry Library. Chicago's Newberry Library has the most valuable foreign collection of documents from the Spanish colonization period. You can contact the library at:
Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610-3394
Internet: http://www./
The above collection is described in:
Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dictionary Catalog of the Edward E. Ayer Collection of Americana and American Indians in the Newberry Library. Volume 6, pp. 5,895–99,964. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: G. K. Hall, 1961.
Welsh, Doris V. Catalog of Printed Materials Relating to the Philippine Islands, 1519–1900, in the Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois, USA: Newberry Library, 1959.
Lietz, Paul S., Editor. Calendar of Philippine Documents in the Ayer Collection of the Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois, USA: Newberry Library, 1956. (FS Library book 959.9 A3c; film 0795964 item 4.)
Websites[edit | edit source]
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