TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Lucy Urgello Miller's Filipiniana Collection #Cebu

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Lucy Urgello Miller's Filipiniana Collection #Cebu

Standing l-r: Toinette Osmena, Lilia Tagorda Fischer

Seated l-r: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Lorna Jakosalem Edwards, Lucy Urgello Miller

I had the privilege of having lunch at Lucy Urgello Miller's house, after which she gave our group of Cebuanas and husbands a tour of her private Filipiniana collection.

Lucy's collection is extensive: she has antique books, maps, postcards, photographs, posters, documents, and ephemera. She admits it would take a great deal of time and effort to catalogue them all. What she has catalogued are handsomely displayed in antique bookcases and cabinets; there is a garage-full of items not yet catalogued.

Lucy included some of her vintage postcards of Cebu into a coffee table book, Glimpses of Old Cebu (University of San Carlos Press). She is currently working on another coffee table book.

Here are some pictures of the ladies and a few of her collection. There are two photos that include my grandfather, Mariano Cuenco - noted below.

These are partial catalogues of Cebu postcards

The following picture of the Delegates of the First Independent Congress includes my grandfather, Mariano Jesus Cuenco (front, center, sixth from the right) - circa 1915

The following document showing Official Candidates of the Nationalista Party includes my grandfather, Mariano Jesus Cuenco (second row, third from the left). Circa 1935

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.