The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, a multivolume compilation of documents published from 1903 to 1907 has become a basic reference—almost a

creed—for scholars interested in the Spanish Philippines. This work has fostered the construction and spread of factual inaccuracies and deep-
seated but mistaken assumptions about Spanish colonial rule. James Alexander Robertson and Emma Helen Blair were the authors of the preface
and the translators of most of the documents. However, in 1903 James A. LeRoy became its architect in penumbra, marginalizing key documents in
order to highlight some events and suppress others, as well as compounding mistranslations. This article explains through the personal
correspondence of James A. Robertson and Emma H. Blair with James A. LeRoy how The Philippine Islands emerged and developed, becoming an
indispensable tool of historical propaganda in the service of U.S. colonial administration.

After all, the set is regarded as “the unequalled monumental work of translation, annotation, collation and editing of primary sources, truly an
indispensable reference for any serious study of Philippine history during the Spanish era.”

A 1962 quotation from a New York City antiquarian book dealer describes the “B&R” set. “The most usable collection of source materials for the
study of Philippine history……. contains a monumental collection of English translations of original sources on the discovery, exploration, pacification
and Christianization…. on the social, religious, political and economic conditions of the Archipelago from the beginning of Western contact to the end
of the Spanish period.”

America’s perplexity, most probably whetted one May morning in 1898 finding herself in possession of an archipelago in the western Pacific, may
have led to the inspiration that challenged scholarship and erudition, thus creating knowledge about their new territorial acquisition. The United
States was beginning to govern a people they knew very little of. The objective was to assemble and furnish ‘authentic and trustworthy material’ for a
history of the islands.

Emma Helen Blair (1851-1911) was a historian, journalist, editor and librarian. Her collaboration with James Alexander Robertson may have been
influenced by an earlier project that she assisted. The English translations of the “Jesuit Relations,” annual reports by the superior of Jesuit missions.

Her collaborator, James Alexander Robertson (1873-1939), was an archivist, historian and translator. He became the director of the fledgling
National Library of the Philippines from 1910 to 1916.
Together, they performed a historical celebration. “The Philippine Islands 1493-1898.”

The original 55-volume set was published and issued serially from 1903 through 1909 by the Arthur H. Clark Company of Cleveland, Ohio. At the
outset, Ms. Blair and Mr. Robertson desired to produce a ready reference in English for the American public. A popular edition, as it were. The
economics of publishing, however, apparently deemed that the limited edition be addressed mainly for university libraries, the academe, the US
Foreign Policy establishment and private collectors. It appears therefore that there was, from the very start, an unintended built-in scarcity. In the
antiquities and curio business, scarcity becomes an inevitable element in an auction’s hammer drop.

After a hundred years, world wars and natural calamities, very few intact and complete sets survive in the Philippines; in fact, even in the United
States. While earlier bibliographical tracts may have mentioned that about a thousand such sets were originally printed, some researchers now opine
that perhaps no more than 500 sets were in fact printed and sold between 1903 and 1909. It is believed that very few sets (perhaps just about 5 or 6)
have survived in the Philippines. They are, understandably, under lock and key!

Recognizing that access to materials is the principal requisite to historical research, Dr. Domingo Abella, then-Director of the National Archives,
elected President of the International Association of Historians of Asia in 1960, embarked upon a reprint of the rare Blair and Robertson. In 1962, a
re-issue, by photo-offset, was printed in Taipeh, limited to 300 sets, 55 separate books to the set.

In 1973, Cacho Hermanos published a “reprint of the first re-issue,” also by offset printing. It is unlikely that they printed more than 500 sets. Cacho
compressed the 55 volumes into 19 books. These too have become rarities.

Happily, “Blair and Robertson” is now available in digitized platform. E-books. The “Project Gutenberg” as well as in “Primary Sources in Philippine
History” are both a ‘google’ away! But for very serious Filipiniana collectors and rare antiquarian book fanciers, especially individuals with deep
pockets, there is no substitute for the original 55-volume printed in 1903-1909.

An internet antiquarian rare book dealer--the American Book Exchange--has in its current listing, both the original as well as the Domingo
Abella/Taipeh edition. They are quoted at US$14,850.00 and US$9,935.00, respectively. That is exclusive of shipping and handling fees. The book
exchange, in its statement about the original set, says: “rare and elusive,” “this is only the third set we have handled….in several decades.” There is
none available of the Cacho Hermanos edition, but I recall that a set was available in 2014 from the same exchange for US$2,500.00. All such
availabilities are used and ex-Library owned or from private estates.

There is now, in the Philippines, an ex-Library set of the original 55-volume B&R available for collectors. The Leon Gallery/Auctions in Legazpi
Village, Makati (G/F Eurovilla 1) recently acquired the set, readied for participation in their forthcoming auctions. This set has a very interesting
provenance. Once upon a time, owned by the St. Charles College, Catonsville, Maryland (a seminary and a liberal arts college) which was closed
down. The set was donated to Chaminade University in Honolulu. Evidently, they found no use for it and was consigned to an antiquarian
bookshop/broker in Kilohana Square on the outer fringe bordering Waikiki, towards Diamond Head. The set was serendipitously found and acquired
in 1982. In both libraries, none of the volumes was ever borrowed or maybe, even read! The library cards inside the flap envelopes have no recorded
borrowers. Otherwise, the set is in excellent condition considering its age.

The pages of these volumes are in near mint condition. As a matter of fact, pages are unslit, unseparated and unopened, from the day these were
shipped out of the publishing house, obviously, authenticating that these were never borrowed and read. There is no inside wear and tear except that
a hundred years of non-use and silverfish have visibly taken its toll. About 5 of the books’ spines have damage and require professional restoration.
Having belonged to two libraries in succession, the spines have the Dewey System designation hand painted in white on the lower half of the spine,
i.e. (“991.4/B575”, in this instance).

A primary source is something that originates from the past. It can be a chronicle, a piece of pottery, or even a piece of glacial ice that gives us
climate data about the levels of atmospheric carbon one thousand years ago. Historians, to the best of their abilities, work with primary sources to
understand the past on its own terms, not through the modern-day lenses.

A secondary source is a work that comments on the past. Typically this is a recently written book that describes past events, often written by a
historian or trained scholar familiar about the time period and civilization in question. A secondary source is a book about history.

What is a Primary Source

Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event. They can be firsthand testimony or evidence
created during the time period that you are studying.
Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels,
plays, and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.

What is a Secondary Source

Secondary sources analyze a scholarly question and often use primary sources as evidence.
Secondary sources include books and articles about a topic. They may include lists of sources, i.e. bibliographies, that may lead you to other
primary or secondary sources.

Primary sources are most often produced around the time of the events you are studying. They reflect what their creator observed or believed about
the event. These sources serve as the raw material that you’ll analyze and synthesize in order to answer your research question, and they will form
key pieces of evidence in your paper’s argument. Secondary sources, in contrast, provide an interpretation of the past based on primary sources.