With an emphasis on the humanities and social sciences, the Harvard-Yenching Library's Korean Collection covers everything from archaeology to contemporary economic development.
It's a premier research collection for Korean studies in the U.S.
Among its unique features is:
- a group of genealogies and official examination rosters from the 17th century, which form an indispensable source for the study of social mobility in traditional Korea
- a large collection of literary writings in classical Chinese by individual authors
- archival collections covering post-colonial periods on Korean war and military history
- contemporary primary sources on cultural studies including Manhwa, films, film posters, and more
- digital photographs including images of colonial-period photo postcards and various North Korean photographs taken from 1945
- a comprehensive collection of books, journals, government documents, and other materials on Korea’s postwar economic development and business history
The Harvard-Yenching Library's Korean Collection is the primary collector at Harvard of Korean-language newspapers, most of which are on microfilm, reprints, as well as PDFs.
The collection also holds more than 6,000 volumes of North Korean publications.
Accessing These Materials
- Korean rare books that have been digitized are available online via Harvard-Yenching Library digitized version of Korean Rare Books.
- Use the Research Guide for Korean Studies for help accessing online resources from this collection.
Contact
Mikyung Kang