This survey of literature is therefore essential prior to doing research. For the Ilocos and cordillera regions, a good book is Cracks in the Parchment curtain by William Henry scott, “scotty,” which is an excellent work in its data and theoretical framework. Another work of the late Dr. scott on the Ilocos is the Ilocano resistance to U.S. aggression which deals with the Philippine-American war in the Ilocos provinces. One may also consult books which can serve as models for local history writing. A compilation of articles by leading historians, edited by Alfred mccoy and ED.C. de Jesus, is Philippine social history: Global Trade and local transformations. The articles therein would suggest several topics and approaches for local historians. The local historian may also consult periodicals such as the Ilocos Review published by the divine word college. Journals such as this are usually published by regional universities and cultural institutions. The articles are usually short but have in general a high standard of scholarship and warrant further discussion or research.
Primary and Secondary sources
I always ask my students at the beginning of each semester: which is more important, facts or analysis? And invariably, they always answer “Analyze.” So, where do facts come from? Historical facts/data are obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources, which are either or oral, are eyewitness or contemporaneous accounts by those who were participants or observers living during a particular historical era. Secondary sources, on the other hand, such as history textbooks or popular magazine articles, are materials based primary sources. Primary sources carry greater weight than secondary sources when judging the veracity and accuracy of fact. The more primary sources are used in a research, the greater the means of cross-validating the data.
It is important to remember when using primary sources to always apply tests regarding accuracy, credibility of the source, veracity and consistency. As an introduction to documentary primary sources, one may refer to the multi-volume work of Emma Blair and james Alexander Robertson, the Philippine islands, which is a collection of Spanish documents on the Philippine from the 15th to the 19th centuries which were translated into English by the authors. The choice of documents and the translations have been critiqued by later historians but the researcher, with care, could unearth much information about a particular region during the Spanish era. Other primary sources were written by foreign observers, such as the French official jean mallat or the Englishman john foreman, who each wrote some fifty years apart a book entitled the Philippine islands. A series of travellers’s memoir on the various region of the country was published in hardcover edition by filipiniana Books, and includes accounts of Spanish, Germen, British and French visitors who were observers of the Philippine scene. One must exercise care in using these foreign sources because racial prejudice and the cultural biases of the authors inevitably distort some of their observations and perceptions. For unpublished primary sources, one con go to the various archives in manila such as the national archives, and local ones like the Diocesan archives in vigan.
Those who can read Spanish may consult archival documents such as the Erecciones de pueblos or the sediciones y Rebeliones at the national archives. For instance, the establishment or founding of parrocos (parishes) pueblos (municipalities) can finally be authenticated through archival document instead of recycling the founding myths of towns supposedly named by Spanish or American explorers but which have no basis in fact.