October is National Indigenous Peoples Month in the Philippines, and also the time of year when Indigenous Peoples’ Day is observed in the United States (October 9th, this year). As these commemorations give us an opportunity to reflect on the contributions of Indigenous peoples both in the Philippines and in the United States, it is fitting to point to an event hosted by the Asian Division of the Library of Congress on the scripts and literary heritage of the Indigenous peoples of Mindoro, Philippines, collectively known to many as the Mangyan.
This event, a panel discussion entitled “Mangyan Scripts, Literary Heritage, and Collections,” took place online on September 20th, 2023. It featured presentations on Mangyan writing and literary culture, as well as Mangyan collections at the Library of Congress, the Mangyan Heritage Center, Newberry Library, and Yale Peabody Museum. In addition, audience members interacted with speakers in a Question and Answer session, which touched on such topics as Mangyan writing styles, teaching Mangyan script to children, community support for maintaining Mangyan writing, as well as possible collaborations on translation and transcription of Mangyan collections.
A recording of this event is available at //www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11083/.
To learn more about the speakers, please view the bios of the panelists that appear at the end of an earlier blog post announcing the event.
For more information about this event or Mangyan holdings at the Library of Congress, please contact the Library’s Southeast Asian reference staff using the Ask-a-Librarian service.
A selection of resources related to Mangyan writing and literary culture at the Newberry Library, Yale Peabody Museum, Mangyan Heritage Center, and the Library of Congress is listed below.
Selected Resources
Newberry Library
- Die Mangianenschrift von Mindoro, Ayer folio PL5946.M49 1895
- Bamboo rolls and fragments containing songs in the Hanunoo Mangyan dialect and texts in Tagbanua 1904-1905, VAULT oversize Ayer MS 1726
- Mangyan Songs, VAULT Ayer MS 1727
- Hampangan Mangyan songs, Ayer 2242 .G2 1905
- A collection of ethnographic photographs of the peoples of the Philippines from Dean Worcester (see Series 3 for photographs related to the Mangyan)
- Philippine research guide (includes bibliographic resources)
- A research guide to the American Indian and Indigenous Studies collection at the Newberry
- To contact reference staff at the Newberry Library, please use their Ask-a-Librarian service: https://www.newberry.org/collection/ask-a-librarian
Yale Peabody Museum
- Collections of the Division of Anthropology at the Yale Peabody Museum, which include 900 material culture objects, such as 359 bamboo sections inscribed with Hanunuo writing from the 1950s, and approximately 15 to 20 “banker’s boxes” of field notes, correspondence, illustrations by Yāgaw residents, course notes, and drafts for publications in the Harold C. Conklin and Jean M. Conklin Collection.
- For questions on Hanunuo Mangyan holdings and related collections at the Peabody Museum, please reach out to staff there using the following contact form: https://peabody.yale.edu/about/contact or contact Museum Assistant, Maureen DaRos White at [email protected].
Mangyan Heritage Center
- For inquiries on Mangyan collections at the Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC), please email the center at [email protected], connect with the MHC through their Facebook Page, Mangyan Heritage Center (Official), or reach out through WhatsApp: +639174293817.
Library of Congress
Available online
- Digital collection: Mangyan bamboo collection from Mindoro, Philippines, circa 1900 to 1939
- Research guide on the Mangyan bamboo collection
- Blog post on the Library’s Mangyan bamboo collection
Available only onsite at the Library
- Hanunuo-Mangyan poems ambahan session: from the collection of anthropologist Antoon Postma of Mangyan Research Center
- Harold C. Conklin Philippine collection, 1955-1995
- Harold C. Conklin recordings from Luzon and Mindoro, Philippines
Located near the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, the Library of Congress acknowledges the Indigenous peoples of the United States, including the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home in this area today. We pay our respect to the people, past and present, of the Nacotchtank (Anacostan), Piscataway Conoy, Pamunkey and Manahoac nations, the first peoples and custodians since time immemorial of the land where the Library now provides its services.
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