I. The Quezon Family Collection
This is composed of the papers, photographs, and other ephemera, including bound reports and books, of Manuel L. Quezon, Aurora A. Quezon, and their adult children, Maria Aurora Quezon, Maria Zeneida Quezon Avanceña, and Manuel L. Quezon Jr. The papers of President Quezon here primarily comprises his official and personal papers from World War II; those of Mrs. Quezon includes her personal and official papers after she became a widow, and the parents’ correspondence with their children.
At present, the Quezon Family Collection can be found in the Roderick Hall Collection in the Filipinas Heritage Library, which is cataloging, digitizing, and preserving, the collection.
Items from the Quezon Family Collection already digitized have been shared with other institutions and can be found online:
Selected Documents, Ephemera, and Books
The President Manuel Quezon Collection in the Presidential Museum and Library Archive.org collection. Particularly noteworthy here, and available for download, are the following:
A. Early biographies
Quezon, Man of Destiny, by Carlos Quirino (1935)
Manuel L. Quezon: His Life and Career, A Complete Biography by Sol Gwekoh (1948)
Aurora A. Quezon: Her Life and Deeds, by Sol Gwekoh (1950)
B. References
Quezon Memorial Book (1952)
Speeches Of Manuel L. Quezon As Resident Commissioner
Selected quotations from the letters and speeches of President Manuel L. Quezon
Manuel Luis Quezon on his Centenary, by Alfredo Saulo (1978): This is a remarkable reference work consisting of an Appraisal, Chronology, Reader and Bibliography.
Report Of The Philippine Delegation To The Conference Of The Institute Of Pacific Relations: On December 4-14, 1942, Philippine delegates attended the Eighth Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. This report includes the list of delegates to the conferences, issues discussed, and comments and observations
C. Compilations:
I. Philippine Press Clippings
Bound press clippings by The Philippine Press Clipping Co., Inc., “Clippings of His Excellency Hon. M.L. Quezon President of the Philippine Commonwealth.”
II. “Huk Ambush” Scrapbooks
III. Photogravure of Manuel L. Quezon
Presented by Feliciano Navarro, a collection of press clippings focusing on weekend supplements for the years 1936-1938. Many of the pictures here are particularly fine.
IV. Assorted Scrapbooks
1. Newsclippings on Manuel L. Quezon’s Death, August 1, 1944
2. Newspaper Clippings on Manuel L. Quezon and Aurora A. Quezon, 1942
3. Manuel L. Quezon Jr. 1958-1967 Articles
Photographs
See the Quezon Family Collection on Flickr; see also, President Manuel L. Quezon and Doña Aurora A. Quezon in the Presidential Library and Museum (2010-2016) Flickr page. The Quezon Family Collection comprises personal and official photographs; the Presidential Museum ands Library also contains photographs from the collection of the National Library of the Philippines.
Diaries
The Philippine Diary Project includes the diaries of Aurora A. Quezon and the Diary Notes of Manuel L. Quezon, as well as the Clinical Records of the Physicians of President Quezon.
II. Official Papers
II-A: Messages of the President
The Messages of the President was started in 1936 by Jorge B. Vargas, Executive Secretary to President Manuel L. Quezon, modeled on the publication of the official papers of the presidents of the United States. The series was started as a wide collection of executive issuances, speeches, messages, and other official papers of the President. The volumes were thus intended to serve as the definitive compilation of presidential documents. The series was continued until the Quirino administration, although the series for the Presidential administrations of Presidents Quezon, Roxas, and Quirino were never completed.
In 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III ordered the revival of the series and the constitution of a complete set, covering all fifteen presidential administrations to date. The volumes for Quezon include the original Vargas-era publications. Coverage comprises Commonwealth of the Philippines, 1935-1944. Includes the first term, 1935-1941 of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth government in unoccupied areas (December 1941-March 1942), and the Commonwealth government-in-exile, 1942-1944.
President Manuel L. Quezon was the first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. He assumed office on November 15, 1935. Elected to a second term in November, 1941, he was proclaimed by the National Assembly in December of 1941; Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña took their oath of office in Corregidor, on December 30, 1941. By virtue of the 1940 amendments to the Constitution, Manuel L. Quezon was only supposed to have served for an additional two years. Sergio Osmeña was scheduled to assume the presidency of the Commonwealth of the Philippines after President Manuel L. Quezon’s term and would have assumed office on November 15, 1943.
However, the Philippines was occupied by the Japanese, and was at war. On November 12, 1943, Joint Resolution No. 95 was passed by the U.S. Congress and was approved by the President of the United States, continuing President Manuel L. Quezon’s term for the duration of the war and postponing Sergio Osmeña’s right to succeed the presidency until constitutional processes had been restored in the country. Manuel L. Quezon was President until his death on August 1, 1944.
Executive Issuances of President Manuel L. Quezon began with Executive Order No. 1 and 2, signed on November 15, 1935; this series lasted until January 2, 1942. A new series consisting of only one issuance started in 1942. Upon the establishment of the Commonwealth Government-in-Exile in Washington, D.C., issuances were designed ‘W’ started on June 1, 1942 and ended with Executive Order Nos. 13-W and 14-W signed on June 20, 1944.
President Manuel L. Quezon’s documents were gathered from its official sources such as the Official Gazette of the Philippines, including an issue of the Official Gazette dated May 1943 volume 41 number 1 published in Washington by the Government-in-Exile; the Malacañang Records Office which has the published compilations of Wartime Issuances or the ‘W’ series; Messages of the President which is composed of five volumes and sub-divided into two parts; Philippine Magazine, and Philippines published by the Office of the Resident Commissioner to the United States. Other sources used are the book bound and loose leaf compilation of different collections from the Jorge B. Vargas, Arturo B. Rotor Papers, Quezon Family Collection, the Basilio J. Valdes Papers, and the National Library of the Philippines.
There are two unnumbered Executive Orders that were signed by President Manuel L. Quezon in 1942. These documents are considered as either pre-war documents or as a part of the new series of Executive Issuances of President Manuel L. Quezon in 1942.
The American Psychological Association (APA) style was used for the citation. The titles that have been provided by the researchers are enclosed in square brackets, considering that the exact wordings and its order were not verbatim from the document being described. Book titles are italicized while the speech titles are not. If in any case that the book title is the same as the title of the speech, it is transcribed in italics because it is the book title.
Volume 1: Official Week/Month in Review
- This is the first volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. The series was started in 1936 by Executive Secretary Jorge B. Vargas, during the first year in office of Quezon, the first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. This volume collects President Quezon’s Official Month in Review, a chronicle of the Presidents’ official affairs, i.e., their principal activities and undertakings.
Volume 2: Appointments and Designations
- This is the second volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. This volume collects President Quezon’s Appointments and Designations, a record of the individual appointments and designations by the President of the Philippines. These include the date which an individual is officially expected to fulfill their duties.
Volume 3: Historical Papers and Documents
- This is the second volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. This volume collects President Quezon’s Historical Papers and Documents, which include letters, statements, and other documents deemed of historical significance.
Volume 4: Executive Orders (Part 1)
Volume 4: Executive Orders (Part 2)
- This is the fourth volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. This volume collects President Quezon’s Executive Orders, which provide for rules of a general or permanent character in implementation or execution of constitutional or statutory powers.
Volume 5: Administrative Orders
- This is the fifth volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. This volume collects President Quezon’s Administrative Orders, which relate to particular aspects of governmental operations in pursuance of the President’s duties as administrative head of the Executive Department. This volume also collects President Quezon’s General Orders, executed in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Philippine Army.
Volume 6: Proclamations
- This is the sixth volume of President Manuel L. Quezon’s official papers, which constitutes the third book of the Messages of the President series. This volume collects President Quezon’s proclamations, which fix a date or declare a status or condition of public interest or importance.
II-B: The Presidential Papers of Manuel L. Quezon
The Presidential Papers of Manuel L. Quezon are part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. See Presidential Papers of Manuel L. Quezon.
By virtue of his Last Will and Testament executed in Del Monte, Bukidnon, on March 26, 1942, Manuel L. Quezon bequeathed his public and private papers to the Philippine Government, with the Director of the National Library of the Philippines as the custodian. These are known as the Manuel Luis Quezon Presidential Papers or the Quezon Papers. From 1967-1969, the University of Michigan microfilmed portions of the Quezon Papers, totaling 54 rolls of microfilm. See Manuel Luis Quezon papers: 1909-1944. UNESCO mentions another important repository of Quezon-related papers is the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center.