The PUC founded its Pedagogy School (
Escuela de Pedagogía) in 1943 and contracted Eyzaguirre to be in charge of the History of Chile (
Historia de Chile) classes. Most of the students of the time were priests, nuns and
brothers. He was assisted by
Mario Góngora is some classes. Apart from this part-time work Eyzaguirre was also part-time teacher at Liceo Alemán.
Evaluation of Spain in the Americas His cultural and ethnic evaluation of
Spanish colonization of the Americas and
mestizo result:
''O'Higgins'' and Spain A milestone in the work of Eyzaguirre was his essay ''O'Higgins'', which won a prize in 1946 to commemorate the centenary of the death of
Bernardo O'Higgins. It was the first written work that granted Eyzaguirre some income. The seven-month journey reinforced his leanings for Spanish heritage in his historiography. In Spain, Eyzaguirre held a course on Chilean political and constitutional history at
Universidad Central de Madrid. His stay in
Spain made him target of attacks in Chile from those critical of
Francoist Spain, in particular from people associated with the
National Falange party (not to be confused with the Spanish movement). Personally, Eyzaguirre admired the stoic stance of the isolated Francoist Spain against both Soviet and Western pressure but never propagandised for Francoist Spain in Chile.
Back in Chile For a time he was teacher of
Jaime Guzmán. When the journal
Historia was established in 1961 Eyzaguirre served as its first director. Generally Eyzaguirre dealt with similar topics as
Lewis Hanke. He despised 19th-century writers such as
José Victorino Lastarria and
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento because he considered they "ruptured" the historical links to Spain and characterized their views as "
apostasy". The work of Eyzaguirre was criticized by left-wing historians.
Mario Céspedes said in reference to Eyzaguirre's writings on the
conquest of Chile that the conquest was a search for Indian labourers and "not a chivalrous journey". On the essay ''O'Higgins'', Céspedes wrote that it lacked "the social and economic causes of the facts". The Marxist
Julio César Jobet made a harsher criticism by accusing Eyzaguirre of "exalting backward doctrines and institutions" and undermining the influence of "French rationalist and critical thought in the development and progress of Chile". Writing in 1979
Sergio Villalobos and co-workers characterized Eyzaguirre as "a kind of crusader" that tended to "deform" history. Thus they argued he was a representative of
Pink legend historiography. The same authors also posit that he owed his prestige to his humble lifestyle, spruced writing and tragic death rather than to his contributions to historiography. ==Major works==