According to the Council’s executive director, Scott Russell, the project was directed by Spanish historian Dr. Carlos Madrid and funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Mariana Islands were ruled by Spain from 1565 to 1899. Over the course of more than three centuries, Spanish officials produced thousands of documents reporting on daily life in the islands.
Many of these documents, mostly dating to the 19th century, ended up in the Philippine National Archives in Manila.
Madrid spent nearly three months in the Manila archives carefully examining hundreds of musty document bundles to locate materials relating to the Mariana Islands. Madrid’s work at the archives followed up on an initial phase of documents copying undertaken by Dr. Augusto de Viana in 2004.
In all, Madrid identified nearly 40,000 pages of pertinent records which he indexed and photocopied.
To make this collection widely accessible to researchers, the photocopies were microfilmed and digitally scanned.
Russell said the digital version and the index will be given to schools, libraries other repositories throughout the region and eventually will be made available online. The microfilm, he noted, will be turned over to the Northern Marianas College Archives for long-term curation.
The project is a part of an ongoing Humanities Council initiative to locate, digitize and make readily accessible primary source materials documenting the history and cultures of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Additional information about this and other council projects to promote the study and preservation of local history is available on the council’s website www.nmihumanities.org.
