A descriptive inventory of the World War II records and related documents of the Guerrilla Movement in Panay Island, 1942-1945, at the Central Philippine University Library

Abstract

The 217-volume Panay Guerrilla Documents (PGD) are mostly textual records of both the "Free Panay Forces" and the "Free Government of Panay" which worked cooperatively during the resistance movement against the Japanese Occupation on Panay Island and the neighboring islands in 1942 to 1945.

Attempts to provide an index to the vast number of documents were undertaken after these were organized and bound according to provenance. Unfortunately, only volumes 1 to 50 were completely indexed. The lack of a comprehensive finding aid, however, still presents a retrieval problem; thus the researcher preferred to make the descriptive inventory not because continuation of the previous index would take considerable time to complete, but because by archival principles this inventory would conform to the immediate need for comprehensive information on the physical and substantive attributes of the documents. The objectives of the work are: (1) to provide the basic tool necessary in the management and administration of the guerrilla documents and in facilitating research and reference work to these historical materials; (2) to seek a solution towards the improvement of the current situation; and (3) to project the people who played significant roles in the Panay Guerrilla Movement from 1942 to 1945 through this finding aid. It primarily aims to (1) make known to the potential users the general perspective of Panay Guerrilla Documents, and (2) serve as a guide to the archivist-librarian in servicing the researcher.

In two sections, the inventory provides a (1) description of the series, and ( 2 ) volume by volume description. The devised record series is based on the record types arranged alphabetically by series title, except for the "General Correspondence" and the "General Miscellany" series which are respectively placed at the beginning and end of the series description.

Primarily, Section A of the inventory consists of the (a) title line, which gives information about a record series: its record type, in general or specific terms, inclusive dates and the number of volumes and quantity in terms of measurement of space occupied by the documents on shelves; and (b) descriptive paragraphs in which the attributes of the series are enumerated. Section B of the inventory provides a consecutive volume by volume description. Similarly, it is provided with the (a) title line, specifying the record series to which the volume belongs, (b) provenance, either by the name of the administrative unit or the particular military or civil officials responsible for creating it, (c) inclusive dates during which the documents were produced indicating the "bulk" dates (when most of the documents were produced), (d) quantity or number of items, leaves or pages, (e) method of reproduction, and the (f) arrangement of documents within the volume indicated by CA, CMII, A/Z, A/Zmi and NDA.

The descriptive paragraphs follow a similar pattern of the series description, however, more specific analytical information is added in terms of the activity or transaction which resulted in its production or the main subject to which it relates. Information as to the principal correspondents is included and an index is provided with indication of the volumes wherein these correspondents are found.