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Evidence for the deliberate distortion of the Spanish Philippine colonial historical record in The Philippine Islands 1493–1898

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2007

Glòria Cano*
Affiliation:
Glòria Cano is a Researcher of Juan de la Cierva Programme (MEC) in the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain.
*
*Correspondence in connection with this paper should be addressed to: [email protected].

Abstract

The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 was a compilation of documents translated from the Spanish and edited by Emma H. Blair and James A. Robertson. The former was the brains behind the project. The editors received assistance from a reviewer, one James A. LeRoy, who introduced himself as an expert in Philippine matters. The personal correspondence amongst the three persons showed how The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 was constructed. Blair fully trusted LeRoy's knowledge and consulted him with doubts about translation. In turn, LeRoy advised Robertson to select documents for publication and warned him about unreliable Spanish, Filipino and English scholars. The correspondence helps to explain how The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 developed into a political tool in the service of the United States in order to explain the problems the Americans confronted in their new colony – a Spanish inheritance and the difficulties of training uneducated Filipinos for self-government.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2008

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