What Was Missionary Life in Seoul Like 100 Years Ago? ... Photo Collection Published

Seoul Museum of History Publishes 'Academic Series 18'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Museum of History announced on the 26th that it has published Academic Series 18, "Life of Missionaries in Seoul 100 Years Ago."

Since 2010, the Seoul Museum of History has been uncovering, collecting, and investigating unpublished materials related to Seoul studies scattered overseas and publishing them as academic series. This academic series is the result of the second phase of the Seoul studies materials survey conducted in the United States since 2020. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it investigated 4,460 photographs from the ‘Moffett Korea Collection’ held at Princeton Theological Seminary in the U.S. and carefully selected 163 of them for presentation.

The Moffett Korea Collection photographs had been partially introduced by church history researchers, but this is the first time that photos capturing the scenery and daily life of Seoul in the 1890s, as well as the lives of missionaries, have been revealed so diversely. Following the investigation and publication of the United Methodist Church Archives (GCAH) in the U.S. last year in Academic Series 17, this is the second missionary series. This time, it offers an in-depth look at the lives of missionaries from the perspective of the foreign community that lived the longest in Seoul after the opening of the port.

The themes are divided into four categories: ‘Seoul Scenery,’ ‘Schools, Churches, and Missionary Residences,’ ‘Hospitals and Medical Schools,’ and ‘Life in Seoul.’ The story is structured around how missionaries settled in Seoul as the center of their mission and how they lived while carrying out their missionary activities.

In addition to these lifestyles, this academic series also highlights photos of female missionaries and second-generation missionaries, which have been less well known until now. In the patriarchal Joseon society where gender roles and status were clearly divided, missionary activities targeting women were a very important goal of Christian evangelism and were deeply connected to the enlightenment and social advancement of women in a socio-cultural context.

Meanwhile, it also offers a glimpse into the lives of missionary children who lived in Seoul for extended periods for missionary work, formed families, and established roots in Korea across generations. Lastly, there are notable photographs that serve as important historical materials showing facts from modern Korean history. A series of photos related to the ‘1912 Trial’ documenting the fabricated ‘1911 Assassination Attempt on Governor-General Terauchi Masatake,’ known as the ‘105-Man Incident,’ which aimed to eliminate anti-Japanese Christian forces, concretely prove the oppression by the Japanese colonial authorities during the Japanese occupation and the social activities of missionaries.

In addition to individual photo commentaries, two essays are included to aid understanding: ‘Introduction and Significance of the Moffett Korea Collection Photographs Held at Princeton Theological Seminary’ and ‘The Work and Life in Seoul of Early Missionaries of the American Presbyterian Church.’ Since this is an overseas academic series, all content is translated into English, making it easily accessible to foreigners.

The director of the Seoul Museum of History said, “For missionaries, Seoul was both the site where they spread their faith and their place of life. By looking at the scenery of Seoul as they saw it and their lives in Seoul, we hope this will be an opportunity to experience the history of the city of Seoul in a rich and three-dimensional way.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.