Archives of the University of Santo Tomas

The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas (AUST), formerly known in Spanish as the Archivo de la Universidad de Santo Tomas, is located at the Miguel de Benavides Library in Manila. The AUST is the central repository of historical and rare documents pertaining to, but not exclusively, to the history of the University of Santo Tomas, one of the oldest existing universities in Asia, and the oldest institution of higher learning in the Philippines. The collections consist of historical documents such as Papal bulls, royal decrees, rare Filipiniana prints, historical treatises, addresses, sermons, novenas, catechisms in many Philippine languages, national periodicals, and academic records of all educational institutions in the Philippines during the Spanish period. The archives is also home to the only incunabula, or books printed before 1500, in the country.[1]

Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Holy See (Vatican), examining historic documents related to the university's establishment during his visit to the Archives, on 21 January 2015.

Aside from having one of the largest collection of 15th-, 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century European manuscripts in Asia, the archives also boasts of possessing the biggest collection of extant ancient baybayin scripts in the world.[1][2]

Collection

The oldest book is an incunabula by a Jewish historian and translated into Spanish. Josefo Flavio’s La Guerra Judaica was printed in 1492 and recounted the Jewish wars with the Romans. Other books in the collection include numerous existing samples of the ancient Tagalog script baybayin written on paper, including the only two known complete long texts handwritten in Baybayin, covering real estate transactions in 1615 and 1635 known as the UST Baybayin Documents which were declared National Treasures in August 2014,[3] a first edition 16th Century copy of Nicholas Copernicus' groundbreaking book on the revolution of celestial bodies, and the very rare Plantin Polyglot Bible, printed between 1569 and 1573 under the support of King Philip II of Spain.[4][5]

The Lumina Pandit Exhibition

To mark the 400th anniversary of the University of Santo Tomas, the Archives department for the first time released to the public some of its rare collections in the university's exhibit entitled Lumina Pandit: An Exhibition of Historical Treasures. Among the exhibited manuscripts is one of the first dictionaries in the country, the Arte de la Lengua of Fr. Francisco Blancas de San Jose, OP, as well as a similar Tagalog dictionary by the Franciscan Fr. Juan de Plasencia. Also displayed were the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas of Antonio de Morga, the first history book of the Philippines; and the Librong Pagaaralan nang Manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla of Tomas Pinpin, the first printed book written in Tagalog and printed by a native[5][6]

Services

Only the microfilm collections are allowed to be viewed by researchers. Services are made available to the faculty, staff and students of UST as well as to outsiders. UST students are required to present his/her library card and a letter from the adviser or Department Head. Research fee of P20.00 per visit is charged for researchers. Microfilm reader fee is P2.00 per hour, while a fee of P4.00 per page is charged for the microfilm printer. The microfilm section is open to researchers every Tuesdays to Fridays at 9:00 to 12:00 PM, and 1:00 to 5:00 PM.[7]

Archivo de la Universidad de Santo Tomas
Shown here are some of the hundreds of rare book in the archives
  • Seminarium Totius Philosophiae, 1582
  • Opera, 1580
  • 17th Century Libro de Piques
  • Instructorium Conscientiae 1592
  • De Iustitia et Iure 1589
  • In Supereminenti, 1645
  • In Quatuor Evangelistas Enarrationes, 1532
  • Expositio in Primam Seccundae Angelici 1580
  • Consiliorum et Responsorum Libri Quinque, 1591
  • Cedula Real de Santo Tomas, 1624
  • Acta Fundacion de Santo Tomas, 1611
  • Consiliorum et Responsorum, 1591

References
  1. University of Santo Tomas Archives Archived 2013-05-24 at the Wayback Machine University of Santo Tomas Website accessed June 17, 2012
  2. Lao, Levine (January 16, 2012). "UST collection of ancient scripts in 'baybayin' syllabary shown to public". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  3. Sembrano, Edgar Allan (August 25, 2014). "UST documents in ancient 'baybayin' script declared a National Cultural Treasure". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  4. rare books and maps at the lumina pandit exhibit Wordpress.com accessed June 17, 2012
  5. Light and language in ‘Lumina Pandit’ Archived June 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Inquirer.net accessed June 17, 2012
  6. ‘Lumina Pandit,’ exhibit of UST rare books, extended Archived June 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Inquirer.net accessed June 18, 2012
  7. Academic Archives National Commission for Culture and the Arts accessed June 17, 2012

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