In January 2023, scholars Cristina Juan and Regalado Trota Jose, and librarian Mercy Servida discovered a set of old books at the Lopez Museum and Library that turned out to be vital to the digital reconstruction of the archives of San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila, which were looted by the British on 23 September 1762.

That set was, in fact, one of 17 lots that became part of the collection of British hydrographer, geographer and publisher Alexander Dalrymple. It was later acquired by Eugenio Lopez through an auction in New York in 1966.

Fourteen of the other lots were eventually housed at the Lilly Library in Indiana, United States, while the remaining items are now dispersed across institutions such as the British Library, King’s College and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

San Agustin’s archives once contained rare manuscripts and maps detailing events in the Philippines and nearby Pacific islands, as well as publications on various topics dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Given the historical significance of the collection, a multinational and multi-institutional project was established in 2022 through a joint initiative of the United States National Endowment for the Humanities and the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain.

Digital reconstruction

Aiming to collect, digitize and digitally repatriate the lost books and manuscripts, the project seeks to virtually reconstruct the pre-1762 San Agustin Library. It also “reimagines and reconceptualizes the library’s original systems of knowledge production, modes of access, audience and use.”

Some of the documents include records of the 1717 indigenous uprising in Dongalo (now Don Galo), Parañaque; the 17th-century massacre of Chinese immigrants in Taal, Batangas; and the 1625 theft of the cross of Cebu’s Santo Niño.

These materials are being painstakingly researched by a diverse team: Cristina Juan of SOAS; Christina Lee of Princeton University; Regalado Trota Jose, now with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines; John Carlos Duque and Nicolas Sy of the University of the Philippines; Cheek Fadriquela and Rona Repancol of the University of Santo Tomas; and Argene Clasara of the University of Saint Joseph in Macau.

Other collaborators include researchers from Princeton University — You-Jin Kim, David Rivera, and Caio Mathias Pereira; Charlene Manese of Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Spain; and Chiara Martinez of Cebu’s Child Learning Foundation.