National Archives, Entrusts Preservation of Records from the Royal Household of the Korean Empire

Approximately 7,500 Audiovisual Records Managed in Low-Temperature Storage

The National Archives of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 17th that it will entrust the preservation of the records of the Korean Empire royal family held by the National Palace Museum. The National Palace Museum holds many important audiovisual records. These include glass plate negatives of artifacts from the Yiwang Museum, Korea's first museum, and photographic films capturing key figures of the Joseon palaces and the Korean Empire royal family. Glass plate negatives are created by spreading a liquid photographic emulsion on a glass plate and drying it. They are similar to modern black-and-white photographic films.

The National Archives will temporarily preserve about 7,500 important audiovisual records in a low-temperature storage facility within the National Archives. Approximately 7,000 digital copies of the glass plate negatives will also be managed together. Audiovisual records like glass plate negatives are highly sensitive to preservation environments such as temperature and humidity. The National Archives operates six low-temperature storage facilities capable of preserving about 18 million items. Each facility meets the standards suitable for film media preservation, maintaining a temperature of 0±2℃ and relative humidity of 30±5%.

Choi Jae-hee, Director of the National Archives, said, "We have been able to preserve the nation's valuable assets more safely," and added, "In addition to cooperation on record preservation, we plan to promote various collaborative projects."

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