Research Topics and Authors Selected Through Public Contest
The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History announced on the 30th that it has published four volumes of the "Modern and Contemporary History Thematic Research Book," which newly sheds light on hidden stories of Korea's modern and contemporary history. This research series was planned to present Korea's modern and contemporary history from more interesting and unique perspectives, with research topics and authors selected through a public contest.
Cover of the Modern and Contemporary History Thematic Research Book. Provided by the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History
Volume 1, "Hotels and the City," explores the transformation of Seoul from the opening of ports to the present day, focusing on the space of the hotel. The book highlights hotels not merely as accommodations but as social spaces where power, culture, class, and taste are revealed, and uses the history of hotels to pose questions about the future shape of our cities.
Volume 2, "A Century of Dynamic Korean Mountaineering," covers the history of mountaineering, which has become a popular hobby and leisure activity today. Tracing over 100 years of Korean mountaineering from the Japanese colonial period to the present, it re-examines various aspects of Korean society through the coexistence and conflict among the mountaineering community, colonial authorities, authoritarian regimes, and large commercial capital, as well as through climbers' "desire to be the first."
Volume 3, "Daegwanjeong Buried Underground: Memories of a Lost Space," reconstructs the history of Daegwanjeong, a guesthouse of the Korean Empire era that has since disappeared, through modern and contemporary archaeology and documentary records. It also addresses the chronic dilemma of development versus preservation in modern society, using historical case studies to build empathy with readers.
Volume 4, "The Light of Night Schools Never Went Out," sheds light on the history of "night schools," where workers and youths in factories and urban outskirts during the industrialization of the 1970s and 1980s worked during the day and studied at night, nurturing hope and solidarity. Through the voices of those who learned about the world and discovered themselves in night school classrooms, the book revisits the meaning and value of night schools.
Han Soo, Director of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, stated, "Modern and contemporary history is not a story of the distant past, but still lives on as the memories and records embedded in the streets, buildings, and surrounding spaces we pass on our way to work or school," adding, "We will continue to uncover and introduce diverse stories of modern and contemporary history so that readers can maintain sustained interest and curiosity in Korea's modern and contemporary past."
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