Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Presidential papers
of Manuel L. Quezon
Inscribed 2011
What are they
The papers document the life of Manuel Quezon,
the president of the Philippines, who was involved in all
stages of his country’s struggle for independence from
the USA, and then from Japanese invasion.
Why were they inscribed
The papers provide comprehensive and irreplaceable
source materials on great-power relations in the region
at that time. The Philippines provided an important
model internationally for countries emerging from
colonial rule.
Where are they
National Library of the Philippines, Manila; University of
the Philippines and Senate of the Philippines, Quezon
City, Philippines; and Bentley Historical Library, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
Manuel Luis Quezon (1878–1944) was one of the most
prominent Filipino leaders, unequalled in his involvement
in Philippine affairs from 1899 until his death, the period
covered by the American colonial period and the Japanese
occupation in the Second World War. Quezon served as
an anti-American guerrilla officer (1899–1901) during
the Philippine-American War. He was co-founder of the
Partido Independista Inmediatista (1906), which became
the Partido Nacionalista (1907), the dominant political
party in the Philippines until 1935, with a platform of
immediate, absolute and complete independence from
the USA. He served as Resident Commissioner of the
Philippines in the US Congress (1909–16). Returning
to the Philippines, he became the First President of the
Senate of the Philippine Legislature (1916–35) and then
was elected First President of the Commonwealth of
the Philippines. During the Second World War, after the
surrender of the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in
the Far East, consisting of American and Filipino military)
to the Japanese military forces in 1942, Quezon continued
416 Presidential papers of Manuel L. Quezon
as President of the Commonwealth Government-in-exile
in Washington, DC until his death in 1944.
This collection is of greatest importance for the wide range
of Quezon’s correspondence and for the documentation
of the events and politics involved in the long history of
the Philippine independence movement conducted both
in the Philippines and in the USA. Quezon corresponded
widely, both with political figures in the USA and with many
prominent leaders within the Philippines. He travelled to
many foreign countries and met many nationalist leaders
who found the Philippine example worthy of emulation,
the Philippines being the first country in Asia to launch a
nationalist revolution against its colonial rulers – first Spain
(1896–98), then the USA in the Philippine-American War
(1899–1902).
The collection contains cables, memos, transcripts
of press conferences, press clippings, public documents,
and letters and speeches. About 40 percent of the
material is in Spanish, a small number in Tagalog (he was
instrumental in promoting Tagalog as the national
language of the Philippines) and other Philippine
languages, and the rest in English.
President Manuel Quezon, photographed in the USA in 1942,
where he led a government in exile after the Japanese invasion
of the Philippines. �