Research Guides: Philippine and Filipino American History & Heritage: Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are usually defined as first hand information or data that is generated by witnesses or participants in past events. Primary sources are characterized not by their format but rather by the information they convey and their relationship to the research question. They include letters, diaries, journals, newspapers, photographs, and other immediate accounts. The interpretation and evaluation of these sources becomes the basis for research.

These materials are often located in the Special Collections of a library, rather than in the general collection. On this page, you will find some primary sources available to you at the UMD Libraries about Filipino Americans in the Greater Washington, DC, area and the history of the Philippines.

To learn more about primary sources, including how to cite sources, visit the tutorial, Research Using Primary Sources.

Image Citation: Mariano Peji and Filipino sailors at the U.S. Naval Academy posed in basketball uniforms circa 1926. Donated by Nila Toribio Straka. Available in the UMD Libraries Digital Collections as part of the Filipino American Community Archives.

Archives & Manuscripts at the UMD Libraries

Archives and Manuscripts

Archives and manuscripts include unpublished diaries, correspondence, financial records, and other materials "created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs." (SAA glossary). Below is a list of materials related to Philippine and Filipino American history and heritage at the UMD Libraries.

Filipino American Community Archives
The Filipino American Community Archives documents Filipino American communities in the Washington, D.C., Metro area (including Maryland and Northern Virginia) and in the state of Maryland more broadly. The collection also documents significant historic events related to the transition of U.S. occupation of the Philippines (1900-1947) to the country's independence, including Filipino military and government service under the U.S. in the two World Wars. Included are evidences of historic special events such as dances, celebrations and receptions, and social/professional clubs of D.C. area Filipinos
Baltimore News American collection
The Baltimore News American was an active daily newspaper that existed in various forms for over 200 years. The last issue was printed on May 27, 1986. The University of Maryland Libraries has custody of the newspaper's collection of over 1.5 million photographic images, dating roughly from 1906 to 1986. The collection encompasses images of all aspects of the human experience - people, places, and events from Baltimore to the world. There are many images in the collection of the Philippines during and after World War II. There is also a picture from 1971 of the Katipunan Filipino American Association and there are likely photographs of individual Filipinos and Filipino Americans.
Eleanor Davies Tydings Ditzen Papers
Eleanor Tydings Ditzen was the daughter of Ambassador Joseph E. Davies, the step-daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the wife of U. S. Senator Millard Tydings, and the mother of U. S. Senator Joseph E. Tydings. The collection includes Millard Tydings's diary of his 1946 trip to the Philippines as well as some other travel information.
Millard E. Tydings Papers
Millard E. Tydings was a Maryland politician who served in the U.S. House and Senate. Series 4 of his papers includes reports, awards, pamphlets, plans for Philippine rehabilitation and development, and correspondence generated by Tydings in his years of service on the Commission on Territories and Insular Affairs. It also includes records and news clippings from his three trips to the Philippines (1934, 1945, 1946), the last of which was on the occasion of Philippine Independence Day.
George C. Wilson Collection
George C. Wilson (d.2001) was a music educator, band director, Director and Vice-President of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. In 1973 he assisted Imelda Marcos with the development and planning of the Philippine Center of the Arts, which would later open in 1976.
UMD University Archives
The University Archives captures the day-to-day functioning of a highly complex research institution in all its many facets: administration, academics, athletics, the arts, and other student activities. Information about Filipino Americans who have attended and worked at the university may be found in sources such as yearbooks, student publications, directories, and other resources. In particular, the University Publications collection contains materials documenting the Filipino American Cultural Association (UPUB S34 F1) including flyers, brochures, a few newsletters, and one program for a cultural event.

Primary Sources at Other Institutions in Maryland and the DC Area

Library of Congress - Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Collection
Selected holdings from the Asian American Division at the Library of Congress.
Library of Congress - Juanita Tomayo Lott Collection (1939-2011)
Author, analyst, demographer, and statistician. Lott’s career spanned the nonprofit and private sectors at the National Academy of Sciences and Tamayo Lott Associates along with a federal career. She served at the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and the United States Census Bureau. The collection includes audio-visual materials, meeting notes, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs, publications, reports, research, subject files, transparencies, and manuscripts about demographic changes, racial classification, the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, multicultural curriculum, and the status of women.
Library of Congress - The Clemente C. Cacas and Leo C. Toribio Family Archives (1939-2011)
Contact the Prints and Photographs Division for more information.
National Archives - Philippine Archives Collection
The Philippine Archives Collection constitutes an invaluable source of information on the Pacific war during World War II, particularly concerning the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs); military operations in the Philippines, 1941-1942; guerrilla warfare in the Philippines; and conditions in the Philippines under Japanese occupation.

Primary Sources at Other Institutions Outside Maryland and the D.C. Metro Area

Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS)
Founded in 1982, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) documents and promotes Filipino American history through its archives, conferences, books, programs, films, art and more.