© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2009 University of Chicago Library
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. Philippine Studies Program. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The University of Chicago Philippine Studies Program was established in 1953 with Fred Eggan as Director and Evett D. Hester as Associate Director. The Program was supported by an initial five year grant of $75,000 in March 1953 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Carnegie Corporation furnished a terminal grant of $25,000 in December 1957. Funding for specific projects was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Asia Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. After the Program merged with the University of Chicago Committee on Southern Asian Studies in 1959-1960, funds were allocated through the committee and provided by the Non-Western Area Program of the Ford Foundation.
The purpose of the Philippine Studies Program was to help “provide the necessary scientific foundation for an adequate understanding of Philippine society and culture, and ... assess the role played by the United States in its development.” The project coordinated the staff and resources of the University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, the Newberry Library, and the Field Museum of Natural History (then called the Chicago Natural History Museum). This philosophy of cooperation soon extended to include other American or Philippine universities, museums, and libraries. Cooperation between Chicago institutions included the cataloging and publication of a Calendar of Philippine Documents in the Ayer Collection of the Newberry Library by Paul Lietz, and the installation of the Pacific Research Laboratory at the Field Museum of Natural History completed in 1957-1958 with the guidance of Evett D. Hester.
Fred Eggan was the Director of the Program from 1953 until 1977. Eggan was responsible for the management of the Program, organizing conferences, overseeing fieldwork, and conducting his own research on the Sagada Igorot in partnerships with Alfredo Pacyaya and William Henry Scott. Evett D. Hester, the Associate Director, provided daily supervision, participated in conferences, and monitored the field studies in the Philippines. Hestor’s own work in connection with the Program involved him in the Pacific Research Laboratory at the Field Museum of Natural History and the H. Otley Beyer Collection of manuscripts and artifacts in the Philippines.
During the initial period of the Program, a research library for students and post-doctoral fellows was established. This collection included monographs, serials, unpublished papers, and research materials gathered by Fred Eggan throughout his career. Also during this period, a subcontract was initiated with Human Resources Area Files, Inc. to produce the four-volume Area Handbook of the Philippines. Research for the Handbook prompted the Philippine Studies Program to advocate more field work in the Southern and Central Philippines to fill in gaps of knowledge found wanting at the completion of the HRAF publication. Many who worked on the Handbook continued to do this field work and publish their findings. These researchers included Robert B. Fox, Melvin Mednick, Francis X. Lynch, S. J., and Jacques Amyot, S.J.
Another major project undertaken by the Program was the search for and the translation of Alzina's "Historia de Visayas..." (1668). This was a project initially begun in partnership with the Newberry Library, in conjunction with Filipino scholars. The Newberry furnished facilities for Paul Lietz, a Loyola University historian, who began translating the work. Many hands went into an effort to translate and publish this important manuscript, including Paul Lietz, E. D. Hester, Fred Eggan, Felipe Landa Jocano, and Victor Baltazar, among others.
From the time of its founding, the Philippine Studies Program concentrated on firmer ties with institutions and scholars in the Philippines. While sending many people from the United States to the Philippines to do field work, the Program also helped to bring Filipino social scientists to the University of Chicago. Some received their Ph.D.'s. there and others came for a year of study, among them Alfredo Pacyaya, E. Arsenio Manuel, F. Landa Jocano, Alfred Evangelista, and William Henry Scott. Many of these individuals held prominent posts in government, cultural institutions, and universities in the Philippines.
In the academic year of 1959-1960, the Philippine Studies Program was incorporated within the Committee on Southern Asian Studies. In 1961, Clifford Geertz came to the University and was highly instrumental in further developing a South and Southeast Asia program at the University. As the University of Chicago broadened its scope of studies in the South Asia region, the Philippine Studies Program received less emphasis. Interest in the Program declined further with the death and retirement of three of the Program's most important advocates. Finally, with the retirement of its Director Fred Eggan, in 1977, the Philippine Studies Program ceased to function.
The Philippine Studies Program records contain information from 1930 to 1979. The majority of the records cover the period of its operation, 1953-1977. The records include material documenting daily business such as budgets and annual reports. It includes research projects, field notes, maps, charts, photographs, lantern slides, personnel files, and correspondence. The collection also includes publications produced during the Program as well as microfilm and unpublished manuscripts. The records have been arranged into five series: Annual Reports and Budgets, Correspondence, Program Publications, Project Files and Library Collection.
Series I, Annual Reports and Budgets consists of material dating from 1952 to 1976. All the annual reports were written by Fred Eggan and track the activities of the Philippine Studies Program. The annual reports cease after 1964-1965, at which point documentation about specific projects of the program becomes minimal.
Series II, Correspondence is arranged alphabetically and documents the daily interactions of the Program with other institutions and scholars. The series houses a variety of materials filed with correspondence, such as manuscripts, field reports, charts, maps, clippings, and research proposals. Some of these files are similar to the Personnel subseries in Series IV, Project Files.
Series III contains publications issued by the Philippine Studies Program. Included are a set of Transcripts numbered 1-9; the Research Series, numbered 1-7, the Area Handbook on the Philippines, and some reprints. These publications were the product of field and historical research sponsored in some part through the Philippine Studies Program.
Series IV is divided into eight subseries: Personnel, Philippines, Southeast Asia - General, Malay Archipelago, Indonesia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Formosa, and Other Countries. The information is then arranged alphabetically by subject area and includes correspondence, manuscripts, lectures, research and course material, field notes, and conferences. Series IV also contains material dated before 1952 that relates to research on particular projects or in particular research areas.
The first two subseries, Personnel and Philippines, include materials from Philippine Studies Program projects such as field notes, reports, manuscripts, maps, charts, photographs, photostats, and correspondence. The Personnel files are arranged alphabetically by last name and document researchers who were affiliated with the program and their projects. Some of these files overlap with the materials in Series II, Correspondence, and the following subseries, the Philippines.
The Philippines subseries houses project files and general information about the Philippines. This subseries is further divided into subject areas such as Archaeology, Conferences and Seminars, Ethnography, Geography, and History. The Alzina project is found within the History sub-subseries as are all other historical accounts of the Philippines that were translated and or published by the Philippine Studies Program.
The other six subseries correspond to geographic regions in Asia, and like the Philippines subseries, house general information about the area specified.
This series contains three subseries: Manuscripts, Microfilms and Glass Lantern Slides. The material contained within these subseries is part of the library created by the Philippine Studies Program. The Manuscripts and Microfilms subseries have been arranged alphabetically by author. Subseries 3: Glass Lantern Slides, contains images of Philippines as well as other South Asian countries.