Life and work of Reyes

Without love and without hate, he searched for the truth.

(1896-1966)

Oscar Efrén Reyes, Ecuadorian journalist, teacher and historian, was born in Baños de Agua Santa, Province of Tungurahua, in 1896, and died in 1966. His childhood and youth are a paradigm of self-education based on solid ethical of solid ethical principles and titanic will.

Since his adolescence he wrote for newspapers and magazines of liberal tendency, at the same time he worked as a school teacher. A little later, when he awakened his vocation as an opinion journalist, he began his as a “witness of history”. His multiple and rich readings gave him his many and rich readings gave him an extraordinary judgment and maturity, given his youth.

He wrote numerous history books that have endured in the memory of many Ecuadorians for more than half a century, especially those that became manuals of the national education system, such as his Brief General History of Ecuador.

His works, his professorship and his life are coherent testimony of what he always sought “desperately only that he always sought “desperately alone”: to tell the truth and to tell it in its entirety. Back cover by: Oscar Efrén Reyes. Witness of History

Ministerial Agreement and Award

The Ministry of Culture of Ecuador confers the BICENTENARY MEDAL post mortem, to the historian, journalist and teacher Don Oscar Efrén Reyes, for his invaluable contribution to the national culture and identity.

Transfer of Oscar Efrén Reyes’ archives to the Ecuadorian Government

On April 30, 2009, the ceremony of delivery and reception of the historical archives of Oscar Efrén Reyes took place. The historian’s daughter, Mrs. Marta Reyes Torres, was the bearer and donor. The archives were received on the aforementioned date by the Economist, Mrs. Karina Paez, manager of the Central Bank of Ecuador and endorsed by the Director of the Cultural Area, historian Dr. Carlos Landázuri Camacho and the testimonial presence of the following officials: María Isabel Guerrero, chief archivist and Honorio Granja, archivist.

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Detail of letters delivered to the archive of the Banco Central del Ecuador.

Correspondence of Oscar Efrén Reyes:

Works by Oscar Efrén Reyes

1915. “Capítulos Liminares”, Estudios literarios, Quito

1916. “Caracteres” (critique), Central University Press, Quito 

1926. Magazine “Cultura”, organ of the Bolivar College, Ambato.

1928. “La Provincia del Tungurahua en 1928”, Edit. Raza Latina, Ambato

1929. “Lo que fue Ambato en el siglo XVI”, magazine “Horizontes” N°2 Quito

1930. “La Vida y la Obra de Manuel J.Calle”, Fernández printing, “Ed. Quito 1933”. (See the document)

1933. “Historia de la República”, National Printing, Quito. (See the document)

1934. “Brevísima Historia General del Ecuador”, Education graphic workshops. Quito 

1939. “Historia y Geografía del Oriente Ecuatoriano”, in collaboration with Francisco Terán, Talleres Gráficos de Educación Quito.

1936. “Los Incas Políticos” (The Political Incas) National Printing, Quito.

1940. “Mayas e Incas” (lectures) Offprint of the book “América”, Universidad Central printing, Quito. 

1940. “Breve Historia General del Ecuador”, Education graphic workshops (16 editions)

1941. “El Reino de Quito”, booklets of cultural dissemination for the workers of Ecuador, published by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor, Quito. 

1941. “Historia de América”, by Ricardo Levene in 10 volumens. Argentina . Collaboration O.E.R. offprints in volumes VI and X (See the document volume VI – See the document volume X)

1943. “Vida de Juan Montalvo”, Talleres Gráficos Nacionales, (1st Ed. 1935 2nd Ed. 1943). (See the document)

1948. “Descubrimiento y conquista Del Ecuador”, Caja del Seguro printing. 

1951. “Historia Animada del Ecuador” (until the Colony) Fray Jodoco Ricke l volume, Quito. (See the document)

1955. “Historia General de América” (until the Colony) I Volume, Fray Jodoco Ricke, Quito.

1983. “Baños del Tungurahua, Desde sus orígenes al Cabildo” Post mortem edition, awarded by the Casa de la Cultura, Núcleo del Tungurahua, Ambato. (See the document)

S/F. “Los Últimos Siete Años” Edition of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Subcommittee of Cultural Programs. Quito. (See the document)

2014. “La Provincia de Tungurahua En 1928”. Monograph. Facsimile publication by the Technical University of Ambato.