Ambeth R. Ocampo's Blog, page 93

My Inquirer column today is on my love affair with bibliographies of Filipiniana. These may be esoteric volumes, largely unread ...

My Inquirer column today is on my love affair with bibliographies of Filipiniana. These may be esoteric volumes, largely unread except for specialist librarians, book dealers and PhD students, but these allowed me to crib and talk competently about books I have not read, or at least not read cover to cover :)
https://opinion.inquirer.net/156738/t...



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#HistoryNotChismisRizal’s fingerprints? HUNDREDS of people have seen the signature on a letter Rizal wrote to his family o...

#HistoryNotChismis
Rizal’s fingerprints?
HUNDREDS of people have seen the signature on a letter Rizal wrote to his family on December 1, 1891 preserved in the Lopez Museum & Library before me [Left]. Difference is that I was the only one curious (or makulit) enough to pay attention to the smudges on the back [Encircled in the Middle Photo].
AFTER I took a photo, enlarged it, and enhanced a detail of the image, it revealed what might very well be Jose Rizal’s fingerprints!
IF we ...

#HistoryHindiTsismisLuna's Spoliarium cut up in three parts! SOMEONE asked me recently, how the Spoliarium was transporte...

#HistoryHindiTsismis
Luna's Spoliarium cut up in three parts!
SOMEONE asked me recently, how the Spoliarium was transported from Spain to the Philippines.
IN 1958 Generalisimo Franco ordered the Spoliarium taken from a bodega of the Prado and sent to the Philippines as a gift from Spain. It was sent by ship and because of its extraordinarily large size the canvas was cut it up in three parts for ease of transport.
PHOTOS showing it before the pieces were stitched back into one. O...

Solidaridad is smaller than A4.

#HistoryHindiTsismis
LA SOLIDARIDAD [Solidarity], before it became the name of F. Sionil Jose’s iconic Ermita bookshop, was both an organization of expatriate Filipinos in Europe, and its twice-weekly newspaper.
LA SOLIDARIDAD saw print from February 15, 1889 to November 15, 1895. First editor was Graciano Lopez Jaena and later Marcelo H. Del Pilar. Editorial office was first in Barcelona and later Madrid.
THOSE who have never seen a physical copy of this broadsheet assume that...

#HistoryNotTsismis RESEARCHING in the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was like letting a child like me loose i...

#HistoryNotTsismis
RESEARCHING in the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was like letting a child like me loose in a candy store. If found so much in two days, what more if I stay a month?
EMILIO Aguinaldo, is the hero we have been taught to hate because of bad history that plays on the emotion rather than appreciating the primary sources. In the LOC is a printed copy of Aguinaldo’s 1899 memoirs, ""Reseña Veridica de la Revolucion Filipina [True Account of the Philippine Revo...

#HistoryHindiTsismis THE longest Christmas in the world starts on September 1 with the “ber” months in the Philippines. I ...

#HistoryHindiTsismis
THE longest Christmas in the world starts on September 1 with the “ber” months in the Philippines. I won’t torment you with a Jose Mari Chan meme or photo today, instead I share this charming Christmas letter from Rizal to his nephew Mauricio “Moris” Cruz.It must have been sent from Dapitan, Rizal’s place of exile, to Manila.
WRITING clearly so Moris can read easily, Rizal opens with a threat: “Study a lot because he who doesn’t know receives ‘coscorrones’” [a kno...

Eureka!! There has always been a debate about Jose Rizal's height, with many people insisting, without evidence, that the h...

Eureka!!
There has always been a debate about Jose Rizal's height, with many people insisting, without evidence, that the hero stood at four feet eleven inches. This was even used in the Ayala Museum, since changed at my insistence.
The 4-11 club would not buy my method of measuring Rizal's extant clothing in the National Historical Commission to estimate his height at around five feet two inches.
Well, this evening, without my looking for it the definitive proof for the 5-2 side ...

Katipunan documents in the Spanish Military Archives, Madrid make for very interesting reading. Some of the documents have been ...

Katipunan documents in the Spanish Military Archives, Madrid make for very interesting reading. Some of the documents have been shared with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, many translated and annotated by Jim Richardson who published a selection in his book "Light of Liberty."
Naturally, archivists were able to process the documents in Spanish but might have had difficulty wity those in code or in Tagalog, translations by the archivists were made in 1990. Young Filip...

Show YourShelf, Ambeth Ocampo!

Today seems like Ambeth Ocampo Day!
Delivered a talk, Kasaysayan: Liwanag sa Dilim, for the Fifth Ayala Foundation Digicon this morning. A recording is available and starts from 25.30 followed by a Q&A https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?...

I also appear in the "SHOW YOURSHELF" series produced by the National Book Development Board.

This short video provides a peek into my work space, and the clutter of books and objects that inspire my research, writing, and lect...

Historical method.Spanish-era churches often have tombstones on the walls or the floor. E. Arsenio Manuel taught me not to just...

Historical method.
Spanish-era churches often have tombstones on the walls or the floor. E. Arsenio Manuel taught me not to just see and pass by these but to notice them. One can read history off tombstones if you see beyond names, dates of birth and death. Tombstones are reflections of the time: are these in Spanish or Tagalog? Do the font of the text and decoration reflect the style of the times? Who are buried inside and outside the church and why? Did people die young or old?
Its not a morbi...