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Celebrate Filipino American History Month

October 28, 2022

Cover of "Ketang Milabas"

Congress officially recognized October as Filipino American History Month in the United States in 2009. This annual commemoration celebrates the first recorded Filipino presence in the continental United States in October 1587, when “Luzones Indios” came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Esperanza and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California. Filipino Americans are now the second-largest Asian American group in the nation and the third-largest ethnic group in California.

Full size image of book cover
Images of America Series – Filipinos in San Francisco

Join us in celebrating Filipino American History Month and Filipino contributions and heritage by checking out the following materials from the Library’s digital and physical collections!

Pacifica Collection – The Pacifica Collection of Austronesian languages contains linguistic texts, primers, and dictionaries mainly from Western Indonesia, the Philippines and Polynesia. These volumes came to The Claremont Colleges Library from the personal library of Dr. Enrin Asai, a world-renowned ethnologist on the South Pacific. Explore Filipino-related materials from this collection virtually or by visiting the Celebrating Filipino American History Exhibit at the Asian Library on Honnold 2.

Images of America Series – Features the stories of Filipino Americans in California. “These local history books open a window into yesterday for eager history lovers.” These materials are also currently on exhibition at the Asian Library, so please be sure to drop by to browse and check them out!

Resources on Filipino Americans – Explore books, journal articles and videos documenting the Filipino American experiences. Materials selected include both print copies and digital versions that are accessible to Claremont Colleges affiliated users.

Full size image depicting three women and a child in the Philippines
Burdette Boileau Photograph Album Collection

Asian Newspaper Clippings Collection – This collection contains newspaper articles about foreign relations between Japan, China, India, Korea and Mongolia; Russia, Germany and America; and internal politics in Japan, China, India, Korea and Mongolia. One box of materials contains clippings from the Philippines.

Matt Garcia Papers – Your eyes do not deceive you – we did recently feature this collection for Hispanic Heritage Month, but did you know that along with researching and writing about Mexican-American laborers in Southern California and Cesar Chavez’s work with the farm labor movement, Matt Garcia also focused on the work of Larry Itliong, a Filipino American activist who supported farmworkers’ rights? The collection features Larry Itliong’s correspondence in his role as the Assistant Director of the United Farm Workers (UFW). Selected archival materials documenting Larry Itliong’s advocacy for Filipino American farm laborers’ rights are also currently on display as part of the current exhibit at the Asian Library.

Burdette Boileau Photograph Album Collection – A photograph album compiled circa 1917 and owned by Burdette Boileau. Volume two contains images of Manila and other areas in the Philippines featuring peoples, rural and urban scenes, animals and agricultural activities and products.

Full size image depicting two stereoview cards of the Philippines
Norman Ackerman Stereoview Collection

Norman Ackerman Stereoview Collection – Features stereoview cards of the Philippines in Tour of the World, a stereographic set published by the Keystone View Company. To view these stereoview cards, each a pair of separate images, as three-dimensional images the viewer uses a stereoscope.

Hollis P. Allen Collection of Japanese-Philippine Materials – Hollis P. Allen, Professor of Education at the Claremont Graduate University (1929-1960) served in the Philippines in World War II. The collection features Japanese propaganda being produced during the occupation and Philippine documents, books, newspapers, speeches, correspondence, posters and other publications.

If you are interested in examining any of the physical materials, we invite you to make a Special Collections Reading Room appointment. Questions can be directed to specialcollections@claremont.edu or (909) 607-3977.