1762 Project: Our Translations, Our History

Photo from the Hispanic Digital Library: Scenes from the Philippine Islands and Costumes of their Inhabitants by the Filipino painter José Honorato Lozano (1847). Link: http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/detalle/bdh0000105391

Written and photographed

By Jude Bautista

A successful talk on the project entitled 1762: THE CULTURAL SACKING OF MANILA DURING THE BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE RESTORATION PROJECT OF ITS ARCHIVES was recently held at Instituto Cervantes Manila. The project received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the U.S, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the UK.

2nd from right: Mexican Amb Daniel Hernández and Spanish Amb Miguel Utray. From right: Dr. Marlon Gonzales and Dr. Christina Lee. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

One of two project heads is Dr. Christina Lee, Chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Department in Princeton. She shared some of their experiences and findings at the Instituto Cervantes in Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023.

BPI official site:
https://www.bpi.com.ph/

The event was full and lively with no less than two ambassadors in attendance: Amb. Miguel Utray of Spain and Mexican Amb. Daniel Hernández. Read a related article on the talk here entitled: Hear Their Indigenous Voices!

Dr. Christina Lee; The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

Unafraid to Disagree

Lee shared that it was her collaboration with young scholars from U.P. and U.S.T. that was the most fulfilling on her part, “The students collaborated in the introduction, which we will be publishing soon. They also pointed out issues in translation. This is why I love working with them. They are very unafraid to tell when they don’t agree with them.”

Participating students played a crucial role in the 1762 project. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

The students were helping Lee and the project with the transcription and translations of documents found in the San Agustin Church.

From Insubordination to Resistance

She was open to the students’ own translations, “For example they had first pointed out I had title the ‘Upheaval and Indigenous Insubordination in Dongalo’. They said ‘We don’t really like the word ‘Insubordination’. Because in Filipino English the idea is very negative’. It puts the indigenous community in a very negative light. And this is the use of ‘insubordination’ that I would not have appreciated. I talked to these students and they always point this out. They said, ‘resistance’ makes more sense. Great lets go for ‘resistance’. We crossed insubordination and used resistance. There are others but this is one that sticks to my mind. I had such happy moments when we bring this out.”

By doing so Lee gave the students the opportunity to translate the history of their own nation. Especially in a such a groundbreaking, internationally significant historical undertaking.

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Getting young scholars involved with history, has not been emphasized by society in general. Which prompted Lee to ask, “How can a nation can know itself without knowing its history?”

The question also refers to the stolen items from the library of San Agustin by the British in 1762. Meaning much more was lost from early Filipino history through the plunder.

Instituto Cervantes (Intramuros) was filled with academics and history fans. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

Tomas Pinpin Dictionary

The same document that discussed the ‘resistance’ has a connection to Tomas Pinpin –

“Some historians dub Tomas Pinpin, as the “Prince of Filipino Printers” or the “Patriarch of Filipino Printing.” He learned the art of printing about the end of 1608 in the Dominican-owned printing press in Abucay. In Abucay, Father Blancas employed in 1609 young Pinpin as an apprentice at the printing shop and taught him the art of printing.… He printed, his book entitled Librong Pagaaralan nang mga Tagalog nang Wicang Castila. He wrote this book in order to help people learn the Spanish language easily.” From Instituto Cervantes Manila website.

A replica of the obelisk of Tomas Pinpin at the Limbagang Pinpin Museum.
The original obelisk is located in Plaza Binondo, Manila. It was installed in 1911 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Philippine Typography. After more than a century a replica was installed at Limbagang Pinpin Museum in Bataan to commemorate its 410th year of Philippine Typography. From https://www.facebook.com/limbagangpinpinmuseum/

Pinpin endeavored to educate his countrymen by encouraging them to learn Spanish. That’s why he worked hard in translating Tagalog to Spanish via his dictionaries etc.

He was believed to be Filipino Chinese but his birth records could not be verified because of the plunder of his hometown by the Dutch in 1646, (more than a century before the British plundered San Agustin). “Tomas Pinpin was born in Barrio Mabatang, Abucay, Bataan, between 1580 and 1585. His principal traits, family name, and business acumen points to a Chinese lineage. Very little is known of his parentage because of the loss of the parish records of Abucay, which the Dutch marauders plundered and burned in 1646.” To read more of Tomas Pinpin’s bio log on to Instituto Cervantes Manila website.

Toma Pinpin photo from fb and X: bahaytsinoy
Insta: bahaytsinoymuseum

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Found in Lilly Library

Lee shared the connection with ‘Upheaval and Indigenous Resistance in Dongalo’, “The other significant thing about this document. Is that the provincial priest who oversees the report is Tomas Pinpin whose Tagalog Dictionary was just discovered at the Lilly Library in October of 2022. This was a dictionary that was unknown. It was discovered by one of the librarians. She was noticing the books in the main steps. She was organizing books in the main steps. She’s actually married to the person who is digitizing our materials in Lilly. She became aware of our valuable collection. The she realized, you can see on the top. Dated to rare books, because it was just in the main stacks.”

Participating Institution Lilly Library of Indiana University; The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023.

The newly discovered dictionary according to her still has use today, “They should really edit this and publish it. It’s a very important piece that was not known to us until recently.”

Tagalog Spanish Dictionary by Tomas Ortiz ca 1726

Learn Spanish for History

The dictionary and most if not all the documents from the period were written in Spanish.

“I want to emphasize the importance of learning Spanish. Since we are at Instituto Cervantes, to engage with the primary sources of this period. Especially our period of early modern world. It’s very special to me to read about what happened at the time in history without filters, from the documents themselves.”

Students and scholars are not the only ones who have the chance to transcribe and translate. The 1762 project through its official website also allows the public the opportunity to help decipher some of the documents. Log on to their official website for details: https://1762archive.org/the-transcription-project/

Spanish Ships, Homes and Government Buildings

Dr. Lee began the talk by explaining her starting point as, ‘A Digital Repatriation of a Lost archive of the Spanish Pacific: The Library of the convent of San Pablo’:

“At the onset of the British Occupation of Manila. There was a mandate not to plunder the city of Manila. Regardless, the occupiers of all levels did precisely that. Spanish ships, Spanish homes and government buildings, plundered of objects of value and knowledge. From the galleons coming from Mexico they took its 3 million dollar cargo of silk.

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From the ship Santissima Trinidad which was supposed to go to Mexico. The British took Hundreds of luxury goods such as American silver, Iron pieces, spices and over a hundred thousand porcelain pieces.”

William Draper’s Manila Hall

Objects form the era were later traced in the United Kingdom: “The effect was likely that Sto Nino and this Madonna were stolen during the occupation. Ended up in the hands of the British.”

Items traced back to the plunder of 1762.

“This Niño Dormindo was at William Draper in Bristol in an area called the Manila Hall. In practice the British plundered anything that they could sell or take for ransom. They even attempted to extract payment from the nuns of the Convento de Sta Clara. In exchange of their bells. After their failure to extract money for them. According to the nuns the British proceeded to extract the bells with such vigor that they did not even spare a small one for the cloister.”

For more details log on to official site:
https://www.shangproperties.com/

Convento de San Pablo

San Agustin Church was originally known as Convento de San Pablo, “Of course the most grievous case was the church of San Agustin which was then known as the Convento de San Pablo. From the account of witnesses I quote. ‘Opened 3 days of plunder, most of their homes were searched even burial sites were not exempt from this. There was hardly anything that was spared.’

“Fr Maria de Castro was known to have said that ‘ nor the nail in the wall was spared’. Besides the valuable objects and cash, the British took with them the entire collection of books, manuscripts and maps held at the San Agustin Library.”

From right: Dr. Christina Lee, Inst Cervantes AVE Coordinator Jorge Mojarro, Regalado ‘Ricky’ Jose and U.P. History Dept. Principal Investigator Nicholas Sy. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

Military Intelligence

It was a time of war between the two naval superpowers: Spain and Great Britain. The plunder was justified in that way. As a means to gather military intelligence.

Petrus Bertius Descriptio Philippinarium 1616 University of Minnesota Libraries, James Ford Bell Library
https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll251:5769.

Lee continues, “Besides the desire for rare, expensive books, why did they do it? It is likely the British appropriated maps, manuscripts because they were objects of intelligence. They contained knowledge of Philippine defenses. In other words as J.M. Mancini, has argued in her book ‘Art and War in the Pacific World’: ‘These objects contain intelligence that would provide the key to win the war in the Pacific.”

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The full title of the J.M. Mancini book is: Art and War in the Pacific World

Making, Breaking, and Taking from Anson’s Voyage to the Philippine-American War

Which won the Peggy O’Brien Book Prize in 2020

English Inscription showing ‘Breach’ of Manila’s city walls at Bagumbayan, detail in Hipolito Ximenez after Antonio Fernandez de Roxas. Topographia dela ciudad de Manila, capital de las yslas Pilipinas, ca. 1739  The British Library Board, Maps K Top.116.40

‘Breach’ in Map

The plunder yielded a crucial map. And the Brits added their own notes on it, “JM Mancini showed the taking of this material, Antonio De Rojas’s Geografia Nacional De Manila has a very detailed map and information about Manila That was not available to the British. So they took this early in their plunder, in the stages of war. You can see in the actual map, here there is a description someone made, ‘breach’.”

(encircled) English Inscription showing ‘Breach’ of Manila’s city walls at Bagumbayan, detail in Hipolito Ximenez after Antonio Fernandez de Roxas. Topographia dela ciudad de Manila, capital de las yslas Pilipinas, ca. 1739  The British Library Board, Maps K Top.116.40

Dr Lee made note that the loss from the plunder was not only material, “What was involved in the sacking of this intelligence was a real loss of sources of early Philippine history. How does a nation know itself without knowing its history?”

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Alexander Dalrymple

All is not lost however, as Britain’s famous cartographer was able to collate and preserve some of the material, “The silver lining of the story as I turned to my colleague Dr Cristina Martinez-Juan, was that all of the materials that had been sacked, in San Agustin could be identified and located. It turns out the San Agustin Materials ended up in the hands of the Scottish cartographer (hydrographer of the British Admiralty) Alexander Dalrymple. Who very briefly became Deputy Governor of the Philippines after the infamous Dawsonne Drake.”

Portrait of Scottish Cartographer Alex Dalrymple attributed to artist John Thomas Seton, but is not signed, ca 1765

Alexander Dalrymple “was elected Provisional Deputy Governor by the Manila Council with the departure of Dawsonne Drake on 29 March 1764. He then departed Manila 10 April for Sulu with Sultan Alimuddin I” From: Alexander Dalrymple wikiwand

Slow Dispersal of ‘Strange Library’

Lee continued, “As my colleague Cristina Juan pointed out, Dalrymple is known for his rather ‘strange library’. He was known for his navigational tools he created for the British Admiralty.”

“When Dalrymple died without an heir his huge collection of books and manuscripts were auctioned off. From this motherload began the slow dispersal coming out of the United Kingdom, through a series of auctions. Culminating in the uber auction in 1966 from Sotheby’s. 80% of the items went to the Lilly Library (in Indiana University Bloomington). This was the period when the famous Charles Boxer (Codex) was residing in the Lilly Library. The rest went to the Birch Library, Kings College London and SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) University London.”

Participating Institution Lopez Museum and Library; The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023.

From the 1966 auction, Dr Lee also mentioned some also came back to the Philippines through the purchase of Eugenio Lopez. Specifically, for the Lopez Museum and Library.

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San Agustin Identifiers

There were items that remained in the Library of San Agustin. Some markers from these books were also present in the books in the institutions mentioned above.

“Last summer my collaborators and I, we identified 61-67 items that were found in the bodega of the Church of San Agustin. This was when Father Villar gave us access to the bodega. It was very exciting moment. The first step was to find the stamp of identifier of San Agustin. There were other identifiers.”

Identifying markers found in records and documents in San Agustin Library could also be found in books and documents abroad, traced to the 1762 plunder.

“You can see here the identifier matches the inventory that was kept in the church. By looking for anything that indicated origin. In the last pages of the inventory we can see here the last entry was made on May of 1762. That’s when the British occupation happened in October. What’s very significant about this inventory is that the islands’ catalogue was bound and shut. So we can theoretically reconstruct the library spatially.

Library of San Pablo (San Agustin) Convent. Photo from 1880.

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Will Be Available for the Public

Dr Lee also announced their findings and historical documents can be viewed by the public in the future, “We were able to carry out this effort thanks to the joint grant of Dr. Cristina Juan and I were given by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.K. Arts and Humanities Research Council. My side of the ground takes care of the content produced in the AHRC, Cristina Juan’s side deals with most of the technical matters. When the digital materials are ready for use they will be available to the public for anyone to access in an institutional digital university library.”

Team Effort

Dr. Lee credited the efforts of participating institutions and the PH team, “I would like to emphasize now this project is only possible because of the collaborating entities and researchers involved all over the world. This is not my personal project. This is a team effort.”

Archivist / author Regalado ‘Ricky’ Jose signs his book for his fan. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

Renowned archivist, historian UST Professor Regalado ‘Ricky’ Jose was instrumental in facilitating the 1762 project. Lee said, “I will speak about the team in the Philippines. We have Regalado ‘Ricky’ Jose who is, himself an institution… He has been engaged in every aspect: finding, sorting, cataloguing. And serving as our liaisons to other cooperating organizations.”

“In 1999, Jose was one of 100 Filipino cultural workers who received the Cultural Center of the Philippines Centennial Award for the Arts. His recommendations paved the way for the declaration of 26 churches as National Cultural Treasures in 2001.” From: UST Archives, Library host testimonial dinner for Prof. Regalado Trota Jose

Lee added, “Our most important collaborator is of course the church of San Agustin Museum and Library. Whose Director Father Villar is here today and Manager Conservationist Louella Revilla Baysic.”

BPI official site:
https://www.bpi.com.ph/

Collaborating partners in the Philippines:

– Regalado ‘Ricky ‘ Jose

Church of San Agustin Museum and Library

–Director Father Ricky Villar

–Manager and Conservationist Loeulla Revilla-Baysic

Lopez Museum and Library

–Director Dr Margarita Villanueva

–Archivist Carina Samaniego

From right: Dr. Christina Lee, Archivist / Author Regalado ‘Ricky’ Jose and U.P. History Dept. Principal Investigator Nicholas Sy. The talk for the project entitled, 1762: The Cultural Sacking of Manila During the British Occupation and the Restoration Project Of Its Archives was held at Instituto Cervantes Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros last July 20, 2023. Photo by Jude Bautista

History Department at the University of the Philippines

–Principal Investigator Nicholas Sy

–Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Ros Costelo

–Team of Research Assistants/ transcribers from the University of the Philippines

University of Santo Tomas

–Transcriber Dr Cheek Fadriquela

–Transcriber Rona Repancol

Anonymous. Alegoria de la defensa de Filipinas por el Alaves Don Simon de Anda y Salazar. 1762-1763

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1762 Project: Our Translations, Our History

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