BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT: Rationale

Project Rationale

The SEPHIS Program and the Small Grants Programme in particular, emphasizes the support for small scale projects which deals with production and preservation of historical sources or which encourages the use of alternative hisorical sources.

The project belongs to this category because it seeks to make available previously known but largely underestimated and not fully utilized Philippine historical resources namely, tens of thousands of old photographs, maps and prints, dating back around the end of the 19th century up to the Commonwealth Period (1935 to the outbreak of the Second World Ward) and of course, even more so after that period. An increasing number of photographs were being taken at the turn of the century, just before, during and after the 1896-98 nationalist revolution against Spain (note the all too few photographs of Filipino ilustrados and propagandists in Spain and Europe in the last decades of the 19th century: of the heroic figures of Jose Rizal, Juan and Antonio Luna, Marcelo H. del Pilar and many others in exile) and again during the Philippine American War. (A famous volume on the History of the Philippine American War, now a collectors item, is largely a collation of irreplaceable photographs of the military campaigns with some commentaries.) Clearly, these precious few images of that unforgettable era are by now indelible par of the Filipino's sense and imagination of national history. (Indeed, can we really visualize those historic years if there were no surviving photographs of the important personages, sites and events, on which so much "historical texts and commentaries" are attached?) The number of these photographic resources further increased during the American regime in the Philippines which lasted for more than four decades until the outbreak of the Second World War. During this period, American photographers freely roamed the country and took thousands of photographs f the local society, the environment and of historical events. An example of this: the nearly 7,000 uncatalogues collection of photographs of the Mountain Province and the Igorot indigenous communities of the Cordillera taken by American photographers during the early years of the twentieth century which are now stored at the National Archives in Washington D.C., a few of which were exhibited in 1980.

There is a need to recognize the value of this material forms of a visual heritage and to start the identification, location, inventory, collection, storage, and presentation of these voluminous cultural and historical materials in an appropriate facility. Moreover, it will not be sufficient to simple collect and preserve these cultural materials but new and creative use of them for contemporary needs should be made possible--such as in the fields of education, historical scholarship, business and professional presentations, media and journalism, art works, advertising and other commercial uses, and as aesthetic materials in themselves.

It has become necessary, therefore, first to preserve these distinct and extensive historical resources in a systematic and scientific manner within a facility utilizing modern methods of preservation and information technology. Second, in the same facility, creative programs must be designed through which these visual and pictorial resources can be utilized in practical, innovative and aesthetic ways. Finally, an appropriate institution and organization should be established which can house, maintain, and manage such a facility in a self-sufficient way.