The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas (AUST), also known in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

as the ''Archivo de la Universidad de Santo Tomas'', is located at the

Miguel de Benavides Library The Miguel de Benavides Library, also known as the University of Santo Tomas Library, is the main academic library of the University of Santo Tomas. The library has been in continuous service and its collection antedates the existence of the univ ...

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 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 Miguel ...

, 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 The collections consist of historical documents such as Papal bulls, royal decrees, rare Filipiniana prints, historical treatises, addresses, sermons, novenas, catechisms in many Philippine languages,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 In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

, or books printed before 1500, in the country.University of Santo Tomas Archives
''University of Santo Tomas Website'' accessed June 17, 2012 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 (, ''pre-kudlít'': , ''virama-krus-kudlít'': , ''virama-pamudpod'': ; also formerly commonly incorrectly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it ...

scripts in the world.

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, 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.rare books and maps at the lumina pandit exhibit
''Wordpress.com'' accessed June 17, 2012Light and language in ‘Lumina Pandit’
''Inquirer.net'' accessed June 17, 2012

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 Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay (29 November 1559 – 21 July 1636) was a Spanish soldier, lawyer and a high-ranking colonial official for 43 years, in the Philippines (1594 to 1604), New Spain and Peru, where he was president of the Real Audienc ...

, the first history book of the Philippines; and the ''Librong Pagaaralan nang Manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla'' of

Tomas Pinpin Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian surna ...

, the first printed book written in Tagalog and printed by a native‘Lumina Pandit,’ exhibit of UST rare books, extended
''Inquirer.net'' accessed June 18, 2012

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.Academic Archives
''National Commission for Culture and the Arts'' accessed June 17, 2012

Gallery

References

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Santo Tomas Santo Tomás is Spanish for Saint Thomas. Santo Tomas may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santo Tomás, Buenos Aires, Carlos Casares Partido, Buenos Aires Province * Santo Tomás, Neuquén Colombia * Santo Tomás, Atlantico Cuba ...

University of Santo Tomas