Research Resources - Print (General Collections )
Where are the books for the Korean Studies?
General collections
The most contemporary Korean or English languages books on and about Korea are housed in the Kroch Library stacks and arranged according to the call numbers (except for some old books in the Annex Library).
The call number ranges are:
- DS901-DS925: History of Korea: (Korea and South Korea)
- DS930-937: History of Korea: (North Korea)
- PL901-PL998: Korean Language and Literature
- HC466-HC467.96: Economic history and conditions
- HC470.2: Economic history and conditions (North Korea)
- N7360-N7365.65: Korean art
Get Started on Korea
This guide shows a start-up book so you can find the major sources on your research topic such as the historical dictionary series and annotated bibliography.
Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea by Call Number: was,ref DS904.8 .H63 2015ISBN: 9780810871632Publication Date: 2015-06-09The Korean Peninsula lies at the strategic heart of East Asia, between China, Russia, and Japan, and has been influenced in different ways and at different times by all three of them. Across the Pacific lies the United State, which has also had a major influence on the peninsula since the first encounters in the mid-nineteenth century. Faced by such powerful neighbors, the Koreans have had to struggle hard to maintain their political and cultural identity. The result has been to create a fiercely independent people. If they have from time to time been divided, the pressures towards unification have always proved strong. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Korea.
Korea by Call Number: was,ref Z3316 .H63x 1997ISBN: 1851092463Publication Date: 1997-12-01A selective, annotated bibliography, this text aims to provede a detailed survey of the growing body of writing on the Korean peninsula. This reference book concentrates principally on works in English published since the end of the Korean War, but the various aspects pf pre-1948 writings are covered, as well as those of North and South Korean.
The Korean War by Call Number: asia,ref DS918 .E363 2010ISBN: 9780810867734Publication Date: 2010-06-10The Korean War has often been regarded as a forgotten war, although that is certainly unfair. It was, if anything, a rather crucial war within the ambit of the Cold War, started by North Korea in 1950 and, although the bulk of the fighting was over by 1954, peace has never been concluded and the two sides still face off over the demilitarized zone. On the other side of the zone is South Korea, which has since become a very prosperous and democratic country, while North Korea has achieved relatively little. So, that war is certainly not forgotten by the Koreans. And, given the large number of deaths and casualties, it is still remembered by many in the United States and other allies, as well as China and the Soviet Union.This Historical Dictionary of the Korean War, now in its second edition, does much to jolt our memory and inform us about the war. This is done first in a lengthy chronology, tracking the war but also the path to war and what happened after. The introduction covers the war as a whole, trying to make sense of it. The dictionary section provides all of the necessary details on significant persons, places and events, battles and other engagements, military units and material, as well as the political, economic and social background. There are also maps and a list of acronyms. This is really the ideal source for information, in addition to which, it also has an extensive bibliography.
Korean women : a sourcebook by Call Number: Kroch Library Asia HQ1765.5 .K66 2017ISBN: 9791158661960Publication Date: 2017Korean Women: A sourcebook offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of Korean women from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s. It brings together key source materials that reflect the dynamic and turbulent history of women in modern and contemporary Korea. The content of the volume provides readers with knowledge about the broader historical and socio-cultural forces as well as women s own agency that created the options available to women at various points in Korea s modern history. The wide range of source materials ultimately demonstrates the crucial role women played in shaping contemporary Korean society within the context of colonial rule, the war, economic and political transformations and cultural innovations.
Modern Korean family : a sourcebook by Call Number: Kroch Library Asia HQ682.5 .M66 2015ISBN: 9791158660413Publication Date: 2015.Modern Korean Family: A Sourcebook is designed to be the most basic reference book for researchers, both within and outside of Korea, who are pursuing research on subjects related to the Korean Family. It should serve as an essential reference tool both for non-Korean researchers who are unfamiliar with issues related to the Korean Family and for any researcher having difficulties accessing resources related to the Korean Family, which are unfortunately only available in the Korean language.
The South Korean democratization movement : a sourcebook by Call Number: Kroch Library Asia DS922.15 .S68 2016ISBN: 9791158661168Publication Date: 2016The most comprehensive set of primary texts from the South Korean movement published in English to date, The South Korean Democratization Movement: A Sourcebook will be an essential reference for anyone interested in South Korean history and culture in general, and the democratization movement in particular. It will be the standard supplementary text for courses related to South Korea as well as an indispensable primary source for anyone doing research on South Korean politics and culture.- Social welfare in Korea : a sourcebook byCall Number: HV9960.K6 S63 2017ISBN: 9791158661977 (volume 1)Publication Date: 2017This book offers a comprehensive documentation of the Korean welfare state since the independence in 1945. Focusing on the major social welfare programs such as the National Pension, Medical Insurance, Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance, Employment Insurance, Free Child Care, Long-term Care Insurance for the Elderly, and National Basic Livelihood Security, this book provides a compelling and detailed explanation of the birth, settlement, and development of the Korean welfare state.
- North Korean modern history : a sourcebook byCall Number: DS930.6 .N67 2018ISBN: 9791158663575 (set)Publication Date: 2018The series A Sourcebook organizes and provides primary data sorted by subjects and areas on the understanding of and research into modern Korean society and culture in an attempt to meet academic interest on the foreign study of Korea in its rapid achievements of industrialization, democratization, and social change. The purpose of this study is to collect and present basic documents and improve our understanding of North Korea's political and social traditions.
- The Korean diaspora : a sourcebook byCall Number: DS904.7 .K665 2017ISBN: 9791158661700Publication Date: 2017The series A Sourcebook organizes and provides primary data sorted by subjects and areas on the understanding of and research into modern Korean society and culture in an attempt to meet academic interest on the foreign study of Korea in its rapid achievements of industrialization, democratization, and social change. This book is a collection of articles and other original content on the history and current state of the Korean diaspora.
- Sports, leisure, and games in Korea : a sourcebook byCall Number: GV133.K8 S66 2017ISBN: 9791158661717Publication Date: 2017The series A Sourcebook organizes and provides primary data sorted by subjects and areas on the understanding of and research into modern Korean society and culture in an attempt to meet academic interest on the foreign study of Korea in its rapid achievements of industrialization, democratization, and social change. "Since Culin s pioneering work on the leisure activities published in 1895, a century has passed. However, more than half of the leisure activities mentioned in Culin remains only in text. The rapid industrialization experienced by the Korean peninsula in the last decades may have devaluated or endangered traditional Korean leisure activities, which this book aims to renew. As the largest collection of Korean leisure activities, this book includes 33 leisure activities that are deemed the most traditional and representative, highlighting their physical and metaphysical values, and is hoped to serve as the cornerstone for contemporary scholars as a source book for traditional Korean leisure activities."
Research Resources - Print (Special Collections)
Where are the books and DVDs for the Korean Studies?
We have some special collections on reference materials, current periodicals, maps, rare collections, manhwa, DVD, Videocassettes, etc., but they are not necessarily complete and we will add more and more as necessary.
- Korean Reference Books at Kroch AsiaIn Kroch Library’s Asian Reading Room you can study, browse new books, read periodicals and newspapers and use the reference collections. There are 170+ Korean reference books.
- Korean Manhwa (Korean Cartoon) Collections for the Korean StudiesManhwa collections are located at the mezzanine level of Kroch Library.
- Korean Map CollectionsMost maps are housed in the Map Collections in the lower level of Olin Library.
DVDs, Videocassettes and Korean Film Archive Streaming Service Website
There are a total of 8,500+ videos including Korean DVDs in Asian languages and about Asia that can be checked out. The Dean Room Media Collection in Uris Library houses DVDs and has a viewing room. Videocassettes are at the Annex Library and can be requested and delivered to the most convenient Cornell library location. Another resource is Korean Film Archive, a website streaming service which is accessible from a designated computer in the Asia Reading Room.
Korean Current Unbound Periodicals
Unbound periodicals are shelved in a separate section from the regular reference books in the Asia Reading Room, Kroch Library.
- Korean Cinema TodayCall Number: Oversize PN1993.5.K6 K6 +
- 現代 文學． / Hyŏndae munhakCall Number: PL950.2 .H96
- 문학 과 사회 / Munhak kwa sahoeCall Number: PL951 .M86
- 문학 동네 / Munhak tongneCall Number: PL950.2 M845
- 작가 세계 / Chakka segyeCall Number: PL958.4.C43
- 주간 조선 / Chugan ChosŏnCall Number: Oversize DS916.6 .C48 +
- 창작과 비평 / Chʻangjak kwa pipʻyŏngCall Number: PL950.2 C45
- 한겨레 21 / Han kyŏre 21Call Number: Oversize DS901 .H42 +
- North Korean ReviewCall Number: Oversize DS930 .N67 +
- Vantage pointCall Number: DS930 .V28
- 女性 東亞． / Yŏsŏng TongaCall Number: Oversize AP95.K6 Y65 +
- 新 東亞 / Sin TongaCall Number: AP95.K6 S61
- 이상 문학상 작품집 / Yi Sang munhaksang chakp'umjipCall Number: PL981.7 .Y55
- 역사와현실 / Yŏksa wa hyŏnsilCall Number: DS901 .Y654
- 역사 비평 / Yŏksa pipʻyŏngCall Number: DS905.7 .Y65
Rare and Special Collections for Korean Studies
We do not particularly collect rare materials, but some interesting books, database, and manuscripts are housed in the Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collections in the Kroch Library.
- Willard Dickerman Straight and Early U.S.–Korea Dipomatic RelationsProject Scope and Overview
As an avid, well-trained photographer, sketcher and recorder, Straight took about 380 photographs and painted a very small number of sketches during his two spells in Korea in 1904 and 1905. Our aim has been to identify and select about two hundred of these and incorporate these materials into a project which amounts to a visual and contextual narrative of Korea at a most critical juncture in its more recent, modern history. The photographs document landscapes, urban scenes, people (both common, notable or noble ones), and, most interestingly, record numerous important events. These images together offer a unique view of the country, and a rare insight into a Korea during the very early twentieth century which - through various diplomatic and other means - was not permitted to migrate into independent nationhood at the time.
- Cornell alumni directory, containing the foundation, history, and government of the UniversityCall Number: Rare Books LD1361 .A4 1922One Korean student, Kim Henry Cu from Seoul, Korea is listed in this directory. Kim Henry Cu must be the next oldest student from Korea after Heun Sik Dong.
- Map of China, Japan and KoreaCall Number: Asia Rare DS705 .Z3 no. 5 Mapcase +++Author, etc.:G.W. Bacon & Co
Description: 1 map: 54 x 72 cm. (folded)
Map format: Scale: 1 in. = 90 miles (approx.). - Nouvel atlas de la Chine, de la Tartarie chinoise et du ThibetCall Number: Asia Rare DS708 .D86 atlas +++This atlas was prepared to accompany J. B. Du Halde's Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique, et physique de l'empire de la Chine ... La Haye, 1736. cf. Avertissement.
The atlas includes a map of Korea in page of 31. - Robert R. Nathan papersCall Number: Robert R. Nathan Papers, #4410Typescript travel diaries describing Nathan's consulting work in countries including Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Vietnam.
- The ten-year book of Cornell University ...Call Number: Rare Books LD1361 .A4 1908Did you know that the first Korean student from Korea enrolled at Cornell in 1900?
His name: Heun, Sik Dong. His date of birth: 12-29-1879. His matriculation date: 9-25-1900.
The course: M-E. His farther’s name: Heun, Heung Tak.
- Willard Dickerman Straight PapersMicrofilmed papers of Willard D. Straight consist of personal and official correspondence, both original and typescript copies, and reports chiefly concerning his association with the Chinese Imperial Customs Service (1902-04). Documented is his employment with Reuters during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05); with the United States Department of State in Korea and Manchuria (1904-09); and with Edward H. Harriman, Jacob H. Schiff, and J.P. Morgan and Company (1904-09).
- 懲毖錄 / Chingbirok byPublication Date: 1695Chingbirok is an account, written in literary Chinese, of two Japanese invasions of Korea launched in the late 16th century. Its author, Yu Song-nyong, commanded the forces that ultimately repelled the Japanese marauders, with help from forces from Ming China. The Wason Collection’s copy of Chingbirok was printed in Kyoto in 1695.
- 신약마가젼복음서언[hae] / Sinyak Maga chŏn pogŭmsŏ ŏnhaeCall Number: Asia Rare BS315 .K87This Bible was translated into Korean by Yi Su-jong in 1885. In the Bible a penciled note revealed that the Bible was donated to Cornell by William Elliot Griffis who wrote a famous book Corea, the hermit nation. According to Korean wiki(https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/이수정_(1842년)
“이수정(李樹廷, 1842년 출생 ~ 1886년 사망)은 조선 말기의 개신교 신자이자 성서번역가이다. 이수정은 성경의 자국어 번역이 선교 사업의 기본이라고 인식하고, 개신교 성경을 한국어로 번역하기 시작했다. 미국성서공회 총무 루미스(H. Loomis)와 존 녹스(John Knox) 선교사가 이수정의 번역 사업을 도왔다. 1884년 미국성서공회의 자금지원아래발간된《현토한한신약전서(懸吐韓漢新約全書)》는 기존의 한문 성서에 한글로 토를 단 것이었다. 본격적인 한국어 번역본 중 최초로 나온 것은 《신약전서마가복음언해》였다. - 예수성교전서 / Yesu sŏnggyo chŏnsŏCall Number: Asia Rare BS315 .K87 1887In this book the third item is: [3] Corea : The Hermit Nation (1894)