Manuel Artigas y Cuerva (October 15, 1866 – April 2, 1925) was a Filipino historian and journalist who prolifically wrote in the Spanish language.
Biography
Early life
Artigas was born in
Tacloban, Leyte
Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban ( war, Syudad han Tacloban; fil, Lungsod ng Tacloban), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, al ...
, on October 15, 1866. His parents were Miguel Artigas y Rodriguez, a Spaniard from
Cadiz, Spain and Soledad Cuerva y Molina of Bulacan. They were originally from
Baler but they moved to Leyte in 1860 when Soledad's father, an officer in the artillery corps, was transferred.
In 1874, his mother moved back to Manila. Manuel attended
Colegio de la Immaculada Concepcion. He transferred to the
Ateneo Municipal as an alumno interno de beca. He took up undergraduate studies in medicine at
University of Santo Tomas
The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...
. After three years he transferred to
Colegio de San Juan de Letran
The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, (transl: College of San Juan de Letran) also referred to by its acronym CSJL, is a private Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution owned and run by the friars of the Order of Preachers i ...
. In 1883 he became a civil servant.
Career
He was recognized because of his incessant writings and in 1907, he became assistant librarian in the Philippine Section of the American Circulating Library. He initiated Act No. 1849 which created the
Philippine Public Library.
In 1919 he was promoted to curator of the Filipiniana division. Then in 1911 he was appointed chief of the division. Four years later he was promoted to chief of the Philippine Library, and in 1921, appointed acting director. He rapidly expanded the
Filipiniana
Filipiniana, or originally Filipiñana, based on the definition by Isagani Medina from "Collection Building: Filipiniana", in his ''In Developing Special Library Collections, Filipiniana: Proceedings'' (November 1992), are Philippine-related bo ...
collection from 829 titles in December 1907 to more than 20,000 titles in December 1914. Artigas did this by acquiring the private collections of James LeRoy,
Jose P. Rizal
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods.
* Jose ben Abin
* Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galil ...
, Jose Clemente Zulueta,
T.H. Pardo de Tavera,
Mariano Ponce
Mariano Ponce y Collantes (March 22, 1863 – May 23, 1918) was a Filipino physician, writer and active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the founders of ''La Solidaridad'' and ''Asociación Hispano-Filipino''. Among his ...
and the
Tabacalera
Tabacalera, formerly the Compañía Arrendataria de Tabacos, was a Spanish tobacco monopoly whose origins date back to 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world.
In 1999, the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis, ...
. Due to his efforts, the Filipiniana collection of the
Philippine National Library became one of the most complete collection in Philippine studies.
He was a member of the executive board of the Asociacion Historico-Geografica de Filipinas as well as the prestigious
Academia de la Lengua Filipina. In 1915, he was inducted as an honorary corresponding member of the Real Sociedad Geografica de Madrid, and in 1916 entered the roster of members of the Real Academia de la Historia, and the Academia Hispano-Americana de Cadiz, Spain.
Aside from being a curator, librarian, and historian, Artigas also excelled in the development of Philippine historical studies through his many publications. Artigas wrote the biographies of
Antonio Luna
Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.
Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of hi ...
,
Apolinario Mabini
Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (, July 23, 1864 – May 13, 1903) was a Filipino revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, and statesman who served first as a legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary Government, and then as the firs ...
,
Wenceslao Retana
Wenceslao "Wenchesco" Emilio Retana y Gamboa (September 28, 1862 – January 21, 1924), also known as W.E. Retana or Wenceslao E. Retana, was a 19th-century Spanish polymath.
He was a civil servant, colonial administrator, writer, biographer, p ...
,
Andres Bonifacio
Andres or Andrés may refer to:
*Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US
*Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France
*Andres (name)
*Hurricane Andres
* "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7
See also ...
,
Graciano Lopez Jaena,
Juan Cailles
Juan Kauppama Cailles (born Juan Cailles y Kauppama; November 10, 1871 – June 28, 1951) was a Filipino of French-Indian descent. A member of the revolutionary movement Katipunan, he was a commanding officer of the Philippine Revolutionary Arm ...
and
Mariano Ponce
Mariano Ponce y Collantes (March 22, 1863 – May 23, 1918) was a Filipino physician, writer and active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the founders of ''La Solidaridad'' and ''Asociación Hispano-Filipino''. Among his ...
. Apart from these biographies, he also published the multi-volume Galeria de Filipinos Ilustres, a book about important and illustrious Filipinos during that time.
Artigas died on April 2, 1925. He was survived by his wife Luisa Losada y Mijares and 12 children. The family was left destitute because it is said that he left them nothing but his books.
Published works
To supplement his income, Artigas wrote prolifically, basing many of his works on important archival materials:
* ''El Municipio Filipino'' (a collection of laws of Manila)
* ''Historia Municipal de Filipinas desde los Primeros Tiempos de la Dominacion Española hasta nuestros Dias'' (1894, 2 vols)
* ''Los Sucesos de 1872'' (Manila, 1911)
* ''Reseña de la Provincia de Leyte'' (Manila, 1914)
* ''El Procedimento Administrativo y la Jurisdiccion Centencioso-Administivo y la Jurisdiction en Filipinas''
* ''Diccionario Tecnico-histerico de la Administracion de Filipinas-Manila''
* ''Historia de las Revoluciones Filipinas''
* ''Historia de Filipinas'' (Manila, 1916)
* ''El Parlamento Filipino-Manila''
* ''La Primera Imprenta del Filipinas-Manila''
* ''El General Antonio Luna Novicio''
* ''Reseña Historica dela Universidad de Santo Tomas de Manila''
* ''Historia de la Instruccion Publica en Filipinas''
* ''Bibliografia Medico-Famtaceutica.''
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Artigas, Manuel
Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni
1925 deaths
People from Tacloban
Spanish-language writers of the Philippines
Writers from Leyte (province)
20th-century Filipino historians
Filipino journalists
University of Santo Tomas alumni
19th-century Filipino historians
1866 births
People from the Spanish East Indies