Memoirs of José Agustín de la Puente Candamo

In an advertisement published in El Comercio on May 20, 1845, it was read: “For rent in the farm named Orbea in the town of La Magdalena, to decent people, the upper floors of the house on said farm: it has enough and very capable rooms , and are decently furnished. In addition, it has a small garden for recreation. In this printing press they will give reason ”. In this house in Orbea, the illustrious historian José Agustín de la Puente Candamo was born in 1922, who has left us some Memoirs of Childhood and Youth published this year to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The book allows us to know many details of daily life in the farmhouse, where its author died in 2020. The edition is impeccable and has been in charge of his sons José, Manuel and Juan Pablo. It also contains wonderful photographs, of great testimonial value of an era and a lifestyle, and some of them are of singular beauty.

One hundred years ago there were more than thirty farmhouses in the valley of Lima. Almost all of these noble buildings have disappeared with the growth of the city, and Orbea’s is the only one still standing, inhabited by the descendants of its owners since viceroyalty times. The book reflects the appreciation of a person and a family, in different generations, towards a house that is more than 250 years old and that has been adequately preserved. José A. de la Puente reports that his vocation for history was born in the home environment, hearing stories about his ancestors and perceiving his parents’ affection for the family home. He affirms that a house is not conformed only by its material characteristics but, in addition to that, “it is a memory, a spirit, a nostalgia; it is the set of multiple memories, of happy moments, of very dear dead relatives, of friends who visited her frequently. The house is, on the other hand, the ineffable memory of conversations that are no longer heard; it is a spirit, a historical continuity; It is the material expression that encloses the breath of the family, of the different generations that found security and affection in it. The house is the material form of the home; in the end, the house is identified with the family: the house is spirit”.

The memories do not only refer to life in Orbea, but also offer a suggestive vision of Lima in the 1930s and 1940s of the last century. Through its very interesting pages we can learn about the physiognomy of the city in those years, daily life in its most diverse aspects: means of transportation, where trams played a very important role, downtown restaurants and entertainment venues, activities shops concentrated in Jirón de la Unión, the most famous doctors, hospitals and clinics that were very few in those years; likewise the role of women in those times. We also read with regret the unfortunate cases of destruction of important old buildings for the sake of a false modernity, as was done in the Plaza de Armas. There is also an account of important national events of the first half of the last century. For example, the violence unleashed after the fall of Leguía, the assassination of President Sánchez Cerro, the tragic death of Antonio Miró Quesada and his wife María Laos, the 1940 earthquake, all of this seen from the perspective of a child who opens to life and suffers with the sorrows of his homeland.

Personally, I have been interested in reading the chapter referring to José Agustín de la Puente Candamo’s student days at the Catholic University. It is a vivid account of the origin and development of that House of Studies and of his experience as a student of José de la Riva Agüero, Víctor Andrés Belaúnde, Father Rubén Vargas Ugarte, as well as younger professors such as Javier Pulgar Vidal, Pedro Manuel Benvenutto Murrieta or Guillermo Lohmann Villena. Later, thousands of young people, including me and years later my daughter Adriana, listened to his lessons on the History of Peru at the Faculty of Letters of the Catholic University. Some of us later entered the History Seminar of the Riva Agüero Institute and I can fully testify to the generosity of José Agustín as a teacher, his rigor as a historian and his deep love for Christian and mestizo Peru. I cannot talk about the Riva Agüero Institute without also remembering an endearing character, Mr. Víctor Andrés Belaúnde. He and José Agustín de la Puente Candamo were fundamental pieces in giving life and continuity to that prestigious academic institution. This article is my tribute to José Agustín de la Puente Candamo. With this book he has given us a posthumous lesson that I will always remember.