History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 27 Progress of Civilization, 1852-1858
Levesque, Rodrigue (2004). History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 27 Progress of Civilization, 1852-1858. 27. Gatineau, Québec: Lévesque Publications. ISBN 978-0-920201-27-5.
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Abstract: HOM.27 presents documentary sources from 1852–1858 illustrating what contemporary observers called the “progress of civilization” in the western Pacific. The volume is dominated by maritime records—ship logs, legal proceedings, naval reports, and travelers’ narratives—covering the Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, and Gilbert Islands, as well as nearby regions of the Pacific trade routes. Numerous vessels and captains appear in the documents, including the German brig Louise Caesar, the French corvette La Capricieuse under Captain Roquemaurel, the whaling ship Canton of New Bedford, and various American and British merchant and whaling ships operating around Pohnpei, Kosrae, Guam, Nauru, and the Gilbert Islands. These records include mutinies, shipwrecks, trading encounters, and navigational reports from vessels such as Spartan, Lagoda, William Penn, and others active in mid-nineteenth-century Pacific commerce. 
Administrative and political sources in HOM.27 illuminate Spanish colonial governance in the Mariana Islands, particularly Guam and Agaña, through correspondence of officials such as Governor Pablo Pérez and reports on commissions examining the development and defense of the archipelago. Documents discuss Spanish concerns about foreign influence—especially potential expansion by the United States Navy—as well as local administration, public works, inventories of government property, and population and health conditions. These records reveal the continuing strategic significance of Guam and the Marianas within wider imperial networks linking Manila, California, and the Pacific shipping lanes. 
The volume also includes travel narratives and scientific observations from European expeditions and missionaries operating in the region. Accounts from the Swedish frigate Eugenie, missionaries such as Luther Halsey Gulick, and other observers provide descriptions of Pohnpei, Kosrae, Pingelap, Mokil, and neighboring islands, including details of harbors, settlements, agriculture, trade goods, and local societies. Together these materials document expanding contact between island communities, missionaries, traders, naval expeditions, and whalers, illustrating the growing integration of Micronesia into global maritime networks during the mid-nineteenth century.
