HISTORY

From a recent acquisition of personal papers of Father Horacio de la Costa, SJ, one of his letters was a request dated January 21, 1958 addressed to Father Rector Leo A. Cullum, SJ about "any possibility of setting up an Ateneo Archives", and next to it was Father Cullum’s approval the following day on "the starting of archives immediately and I will do everything possible to facilitate this work." Why immediately? Because the following year 1959 would be the centennial of the Ateneo de Manila. And Father Cullum, SJ was the first one to turn over archival materials as he also wrote him: "There are some things in my own room and I will ask the other heads of departments…"

Father de la Costa, SJ, then Chairman of the History Dept., was appointed first Archivist of the Ateneo by the Father Rector. This has set the precedent for the Chairman as ex-officio archivist.  In the beginning, the Archives was directly under the Rector's Office.

Bellarmine Hall  Room C-104 was  the  first  site   for Ateneo Archives.   Its   initial set-up was ideal, with adequate manpower: Archivist, Assistant Archivist, Secretary, Microfilmer, and two faculty microfilm catalogers -- complete with a planetary microfilm Kodagraph camera, and a display area called the Ateneo Room.  

Archives’ services were necessarily extended to include the historical section of the archives of the Philippine Jesuit Vice-province as no archivist was appointed at the time. Later when Father de la Costa, SJ became the Father Provincial in December 1964, he in turn appointed Father Cullum, SJ as the Archivist for the Philippine Jesuit Province.

In 1967, Rizal Library was inaugurated. It was decided to transfer Archives from Bellarmine Hall to the Library beside its Reference Section, resulting to its loss of Ateneo Room because no space was provided for it; and to its loss of the Kodagraph camera and the microfilm collection because three separate rooms were provided for these at the basement.  Its planetary camera formed a valuable part of the Photoduplication center while the microfilm collection became the nucleus of Microform Collection for the Library. 

To facilitate supervision of archives operation, jurisdiction over it passed from the Chairman of History Dept., ex officio Archivist, to Father Robert J. Suchan, SJ, Director of Libraries. Ms. Natividad P. Verzosa, the Assistant Archivist was assigned at the Special Collections/Filipiniana, where she finished editing Professor Gabriel A. Bernardo's  "Bibliography of Philippine Bibliographies, 1593-1961", the second Bibliographical series of  History Department of the Ateneo.  But this left no one to stay permanently at the room where archives proper has already been relocated.

Such a serious Archives set-up could not be overlooked. In the 1968 PAASCU accreditation, the Committee on Administration (Chairman: Mr. Antonio V. Romualdez; Members: Rev. Thomas B. Steinbugler, SJ, Rev. Jose A. Cruz, SJ, and Mr. Rolando N. Quintos) reported on this unfortunate situation of the Archives: "… Professionalism has also brought about improvements in the administration of university’s records, finances, and business, though, perhaps a little more effort could be exerted towards perfecting the keeping of the records of the less recent past. It might be recommended, for example, that some attention be given to the state of the University archives, the efficiency of which seems hampered by the lack of personnel."

One important project undertaken with Father Leo A. Cullum, SJ, the Archivist of the Philippine Jesuit Province, was the Athenaeum Manilanum Catalogus, 1859-1944, an 85-year directory of Ateneo de Manila. This has proven to be a very useful source material. For instance in 1972, the investiture programs described Father Jose A. Cruz, SJ as the Thirtieth President of this University. With the use of this directory and other source material, it was found out that Father Cruz, SJ should be the Twenty-seventh President.

Father Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ is therefore the Twenty-ninth. By a happy coincidence, Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, the Superior or Father General of the Society of Jesus, is also the Twenty-ninth.

It is likewise important to note that during the tenure of Father Cruz, SJ, the Board of Trustees approved in 1974 the Reorganization Plan for Central University Administration.  Archives was then declared a service unit, separate from and independent of Rizal Library, reporting directly to the the Administrative Vice President or Executive Vice President.  Since 1994, it has been placed directly under the President -- a case of restructuring repeating itself as this was the set-up in the beginning, when the President was referred to as the Rector.

Reorganization has brought about some goal changes and improvement in the management of the University Archives. But still this has been hampered by the very limited space and substandard facilities. Then the unexpected breakthrough occurred in 1988, as there suddenly emerged the decision to build the library annex.

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