Philippines Archives and Libraries

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Philippines

Archives and Libraries

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.

Libraries

National Library of the Philippines
P.O. Box 2926
T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita
Manila, Philippines 1000

Telephone:(632) 5310-5029; (632) 5310-5031 to 33; (632) 5310-5035
E-mail: do@nlp.gov.ph
Website
Search catalog

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.

Library of Congress
1st–2nd Streets, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20504
Philippine Archives Collection

The Philippine Archives Collection constitutes an invaluable source of information on the Pacific war during World War II, particularly concerning the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs); military operations in the Philippines, 1941-1942; guerrilla warfare in the Philippines; and conditions in the Philippines under Japanese occupation.

The collection’s focus is on the individual men and women who served in military or civilian capacities or in guerrilla units in the Philippines during the period of SWPA control. Among the records are:

personal histories and diaries;
unit histories;
medical and death reports;
documents on activities within guerrilla units and criminal behavior by guerrillas; and
accounts of the effort to liberate the Philippine Islands from Japanese control.

These records also provide descriptions of conditions within the camps that held POWs and civilian internees in the Philippines, Japan, and on the Asiatic mainland; accounts of Japanese occupation and atrocities; reports of Japanese unit operations; and diaries and narratives recalling the Bataan death march and POW camp life.

A large portion of the records are:

applications for pay and benefits based on military or civilian service,
claims by civilians who were pressed into service to repel the Japanese invasion, and
claims for compensation by former guerrillas based on their support of the U.S. effort in the Philippines.

Edward E. Ayer Collection
Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610-3394

Telephone: (312) 943-9090
E-mail: info@newberry.org
Website

Philippine and Hawaiian History: Recognizing the United States’ presence in the Pacific in the late 19th century, Ayer expanded the scope of his collection westward to include manuscripts, publications, photographs, maps, and language materials related to Philippine and Hawaiian history. Our collection is strongest for the late Spanish period in the Philippines, Filipino nationalism and revolution, the Philippine-American War, and the missionary period in Hawaiʻi.

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

Documents from the American occupation period, with some records from the Spanish colonization period, and a few modern records.

Filipiniana Collection
University of the Philippines Library
University of the Philippines Diliman
Temporary Location (as of 2022):
Environmental and Energy Engineering Building
T.H. Pardo de Tavera St.
Diliman, Quezon City
1101 Philippines

Telephone: (+632) 8981-8500 loc. 2856
Fax: (+632) 8981-8500 loc. 2851
E-mail: library.updiliman@up.edu.ph
Search Catalog

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. WorldCat

Ayala Museum Library and Iconographic Archives
Makati Avenue
Makati, Manila
Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
Website

The Fr. Luis G. Merino Library
5/F Palacio del Gobernador Building
Gen. Luna Street, Intramuros
Manila, Metropolitan Manila, Philippines

Telephone: 02.8527.3141
Email: research@intramuros.gov.ph

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

Provincial Libraries

Besides the libraries listed above, each province has a library that stores valuable local histories.

Municipal or City Libraries

Some municipalities and cities have libraries that collect local family histories and other important genealogical records.

Museums

Google list of Philippines Museums

Jorge B. Vargas Filipiniana Foundation
241 Shaw Boulevard
Mandaluyong, Manila
Metropolitan Manila, Philippines
Website

Record Offices

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

Most vital records should be available at the FamilySearch Library and FamilySearch Centers. The microfilmed records include:

Birth certificates.
Death certificates.
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).