Archival Work, Digital Archive & Access Mode

Archival Work

In a bid to complete primary data retrieval for the current dissertational project, 'Civilizing Colonialism and Taming the Criminal Savage - Impression Management and the Making and Unmaking of Deviance and Discipline in Late Colonial Philippines, 1900-1935,'' a month-long archival visit in Manila (Philippines) had been carried out between 15th of September and 15th of October 2003. This was preceded earlier on in 1998 by two consecutive forays to three relevant archives in the capital: Philippine National Archives (PNA), the Lopez Memorial Museum's Library (LMML), and American Historical Collections (AHC) at the Rizal Library of Ateneo de Manila University. During the recent visit the latter two (LMML & AHC) were the main sites of data retrieval work. Moreover, a few documents were acquired through the Microfilm Division and the Filipiniana Section of the Rizal Library at Ateneo. Past and recent archival visits were funded by the Swedish International Development Authority's (SIDA) Department for Research Co-operation, SAREC, and the Department of Economic History, Stockholm University.

Data retrieval work was confined to primary and secondary documents in the judicial, law enforcement and penal fields, spanning the American colonial period between 1900-1935. Comtemporary monographs, travelogues, official accounts, select newspapers and journals and Supreme Court decision reports were the main targets of retrieval. Modes of retrieval were either through transcriptions and/or annotations, photocopying or digital photographic reproduction. AHC prohibited photocopying of all editions and documents before 1947, whether reproducible or not, but allowed digital photographic reproduction of ditto. Whereas LMML sanctioned photocopying of still reproducible documents or alternatively transcription/annotation of non-reproducible materials from the same period, but ruled out digital photographic reproductions. Only paid digital scanning and reproduction of materials deemed reproducible by the archival supervisor/librarian and expedited by archival personnel, was possible.

Noted normative discrepancies together with the exclusive availability of strategic documents largely determined the physical and temporal locus of retrieval work. The exclusive availability of among others one of the current research project's most central serial materials - the multi-volume Philippine Reports (serial summary reports of decisions made by the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands) - and its allowance for digital photographic reproduction of such sources made AHC logically the dominant site of retrieval work . As such, a total of almost 3000 digital files representing a yet unknown number of penal cases at five year intervals between 1900-1935 were reproduced and stored on CD for statistical processing, analysis and data-base building. In addition, Rizal Library's Filipiniana and Microfilm Sections also generated a number of strategic contemporary judicial monographs and accounts unavailable elsewhere. Some of these materials have also been digitalised and stored on CD, the complete list of which may be ordered from Virgilio Rojas (see e-mail address below).

Digital Archive

On site digital photographic retrieval was done using a SONY Cyber-shot digital still camera DSC-F717. Still image files are in JPEG or TIFF formats, stowed in both harddisk and CD, requiring operative compatability with eitherWindows 98 and later versions or Mac OS 8.5.1. The file:page conversion ratio is 1:2, where a single image file normally equates to two full pages.

These recent acquistions have subsequently been catalogued in a small, but slowly expanding digital archive over early 20th century colonial materials, för the purpose of making them available and accessible to serious students and researchers of late colonial history in the Philippines, specially in the legal, criminological, sociological, political, and economic fields.

Needless to say, the current stock constitutes but a tiny fraction of the vast repository of colonial historiographic materials available (apart from the above-noted archives in Manila) for instance at the National Library of Congress in Washington DC (http://www.loc.gov//). For Scandinavia-based researchers it will be interesting to note that a few important contemporary materials are available at the Royal Library of Sweden (KB), Statistical Central Bureau (SCB) (http://www.scb.se/) and Uppsala University Library (http://www.ub.uu.se/), the inter-archival inventory of which can be obtained though the Libris websearch (http://www.kb.se/).

Digital Archive Access Mode

As noted, serious students and researchers, preferably at graduate and post-graduate levels, of late colonial history in the Philippines (1900-1935) can be granted access to the digital archive's file-inventory following proper consultation with and approval by the archivist (Virgilio Rojas). Interested parties are advised to e-mail their request (s) at the following e-mail address: virgilio.rojas@ekohist.su.se Kindly provide information on the following:

• Complete name, postal address, telephone number (s) and e-mail address
• Synopsis or abstract of research (preferably in English, any of the Scandinavian languages, or Pilipino)
• List of requested title (s) and corresponding signum from the digital catalogue above

Upon approval, a CD-copy of requested titles (files)will be forwarded to noted postal address (with postal and CD costs prepaid by the requesting party).

Relevant Links:

University of Michigan Library's Digital Archive: The United States and its Territories, drawn from the University of Michigan Library's Southeast Asia collection, comprises the full text of monographs and government documents published in the United States, Spain, and the Philippines between 1870 and 1925. The primary focus of the material is the Spanish-American war and subsequent American governance (approximately 1898-1910). The text collection is complemented by digitized images from key photograph collections drawn from the Special Collections Library.

http://www.hti.umich.edu/p/philamer/

ChanRobles Virtual Law Library (contains landmark Philippine Supreme court decisions from 1901 to the present)

http://www.chanrobles.com/cralawscdecisions.htm

Filipinas Heritage Library (a division of the Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI), is a one-stop electronic research center on the Philippines. The Library houses over 10,000 contemporary volumes on Philippine history, art, language, religion and the social sciences, and over 2,000 rare titles, rare books on microfiche, and an extensive library of slides and photographs.

http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/