This archival collection gathers multiple post-liberation issues of The Sillimanian (including regular editions, the Sillimanian Newsheet, and specialized volumes) printed throughout the monumental recovery year of 1946. Published immediately following the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific Theater, these issues serve as a vital real-time chronicle of academic, structural, and civic rebirth. The text vividly details the logistical realities of reviving an institution whose campus had been occupied as a Japanese military garrison and heavily damaged during the war. It features early administrative accounts of repairing iconic structures like Hibbard Hall and Silliman Hall, managing the safe delivery of pre-war and trial-shipment library books from the United States, and coordinating the return of exiled American faculty members. Beyond campus events, this collection captures a profound intersection with local military history and critical national transitions. The student press honors prominent regional figures such as Lt. Col. Salvador Abcede, Lt. Col. Placido Ausejo, and Captain George Ghent of the 53rd Infantry, documenting their decorated service in the Negros guerrilla resistance and their ongoing roles in public reconstruction. Simultaneously, the volume documents the intense political consciousness of early post-war Philippine society. Features like "Not Yet, Rizal, Not Yet—Rest Not in Peace!" offer cutting, contemporary critiques of political opportunism, legislative controversies (such as back-pay scandals), and the social conditions of the working class at the dawn of the Third Philippine Republic. Consequently, this compilation stands as a foundational socio-political record tracking local recovery, institutional resilience, and national identity formation in post-war Dumaguete.
The Sillimanian (Vol. II, Nos. 1–8; March 1946 – November 1946 / Reconstruction Issues)