Pursuant to a law approved in 1903, "An Act for the Approval and Conservation of Certain Historical Data of Puerto Rico", the Puerto Rico Legislature created the Office of the Official Historian of Puerto Rico. The historians who held the position during the early decades of the 20th century included Francisco Mariano Quiñones, Salvador Brau y Asencio, Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, [1] Mariano Abril and Adolfo de Hostos. The office remained vacant until 1993, when then Sen. Kenneth McClintock authored a measure to reestablish the office. Upon its approval, Senate President Roberto Rexach Benítez and House Speaker Zaida Hernández Torres appointed Dr. Pilar Barbosa as the first Official Historian in the office's "modern era". The first female to hold the job, she held it until her death in 1997. At that time, Senate President Charlie Rodríguez and House Speaker Edison Misla Aldarondo appointed Dr. Luis González Vale, the latest incumbent. [2] [3] Since Dr. González-Vale's death in 2023, the position has remained vacant.
Under Dr. González Vale's leadership, the office collaborated on multiple publications, including the letters of Resident Commissioner Félix Córdova Dávila, and several works regarding Puerto Rico's military history. In 2005, in collaboration with Puerto Rico's Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, his office published an eight-book "We, the People" Puerto Rican Series of books regarding the history of Puerto Rico during the first 30 years of US sovereignty.
Dr. González Vale was invited to testify as a non-partisan witness at hearings held by the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Insular Affairs on legislation regarding Puerto Rico's future political relationship with the United States. Luis González Vales died on October 23, 2023, at the age of 93. [4]
José Celso Barbosa Alcala was a Puerto Rican physician, sociologist and political leader. Known as the father of the statehood movement in Puerto Rico, Barbosa was the first Puerto Rican, and one of the first persons of African descent to earn a medical degree in the United States.
Aracibo was a Taíno Cacique in Puerto Rico who governed the area which is now named after him.
Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, was a Puerto Rican historian and writer. He was the patriarch of a prominent family of Puerto Rican educators, politicians and writers.
Puerto Rican literature is the body of literature produced by writers of Puerto Rican descent. It evolved from the art of oral storytelling. Written works by the indigenous inhabitants of Puerto Rico were originally prohibited and repressed by the Spanish colonial government.
José Coll y Cuchí was a lawyer, writer and the founder of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. He was a member of a Puerto Rican family of politicians, educators and writers.
Luis Ernesto González Vales was a Puerto Rican historian. He held the post of Official Historian of Puerto Rico, having succeeded Pilar Barbosa.
Manuel Egozcue y Cintrón was a businessman and a prominent politician in Spain and Puerto Rico during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After completing university, he emigrated to Puerto Rico, then an overseas province of Spain, and quickly became prominent in its business circles.
Dr. José María Marxuach Echavarría, was a Puerto Rican medical doctor and politician who served twice as Mayor of the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico. His first administration was before the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico and his second administration was under United States colonial rule.
The Basílica of the Black Virgin of Monserrat is a historical Roman Catholic shrine built in the town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico as dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a Black Madonna under the Marian title of “Virgin of Montserrat”.
Luis Leoncio Yordán Dávila was an attorney and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1917 to 1918.
Rodulfo del Valle, a.k.a., Don Fito, (1871–1948) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1918 to 1920.
Juan Ponce de León y Loayza was the son of Juan Ponce de León II, the interim Spanish governor of Puerto Rico in 1579. His mother was Isabel de Loayza born in Villa Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Spain, the daughter of Governor Iñigo López de Cervantes y Loayza. The city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, was named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza.
The Antiguo Cuartel Militar Español de Ponce or "El Castillo" is the only structure directly related to the events of the land defense of Puerto Rico during the 1898 American invasion of the Island. The historic building dates from 1894 and is located on Calle Castillo in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The structure was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 14 May 1987.
Lope Conchillos y Quintana was a Spanish politician, and secretary at the court of King Ferdinand "the Catholic". He married María Niño de Ribera, cousin of the Duke of Infantado.
Isabel Cuchí Coll was a journalist, writer and the Director of the Sociedad de Autores Puertorriqueños. She came from a family of Puerto Rican historians and politicians.
Edna Coll Pujals was a Puerto Rican educator and author. She was president of the Society of Puerto Rican Authors in San Juan. Coll was also the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts in Puerto Rico.
Cayetano Coll y Cuchí was a politician, writer and an advocate of Puerto Rican Independence. In 1917, he became the first President of Puerto Rico House of Representatives after the island was ceded to the United States by Spain as a result of the Spanish–American War. Coll y Cuchí was a member of a prominent family of Puerto Rican politicians, writers and educators.
Leopoldo Figueroa a.k.a. "The deacon of the Puerto Rican Legislature", was a Puerto Rican politician, journalist, medical doctor and lawyer. Figueroa, who began his political career as an advocate of Puerto Rican Independence, was the co-founder of the "Independence Association", one of three political organizations which merged to form the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Figueroa, had changed political ideals and in 1948, was a member of the Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño. That year, he was the only member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives who did not belong to the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), and the only Representative to oppose the PPD's approval of what became known as the Ley de la Mordaza, which violated the civil rights of those who favored Puerto Rican Independence. On December 22, 2006, the Puerto Rican Legislature approved a law declaring every September 21, Leopoldo Figueroa Carreras Day.
Capilla del Cristo, also called Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud is a small chapel / museum located in the Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Built in the 18th century and saved from demolition in the 20th century and preserved, the structure has become a cultural icon of Puerto Rico. Most of the articles located at its altar are from 1753. Travel guides list Capilla del Cristo as one of the must-see places of Old San Juan.
