[KS] Terry Bennett's Photo Collection

[Frank Hoffmann]

Just to say thanks for the insights, Brother Anthony.
Quite interesting! The harsh discrepancy between the propagated 
emphasis on traditional culture, especially court culture, and the fast 
and rigorous disassembling of anything left of traditional Korean 
culture (e.g. having turned Seoul into what looks like some Amazon 
warehouse space) was long something very visible to many. The 
disinterest in preservation as such, on the other hand, is something 
that only shows when put in international perspective. Over the years I 
have not seen much of an awareness on this issue in Korea. My immediate 
add-on question after reading your note below is: is this the result of 
rapid modernization under mostly authoritarian rule and the creation of 
a system of value priorities that characterize the inner workings of 
such a system itself, or does it have much older roots that are 
possibly explained by Korea having been a mostly agrarian, rural 
society? 

Best,
Frank


On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 11:40:49 +0900 (KST), Brother Anthony wrote:
> Part of the problem is the size of the collection, which TB wishes to 
> sell complete. This takes us into the several millions of dollars 
> which is hardly feasible in today's world. As for his collection 
> related to Indochina, which is so much larger and much more complex, 
> from what I hear, one dares not even think of what a possible price 
> might be or who might pay it. For Korea, part of the difficulty is 
> the amost complete lack of national awareness or interest when it 
> comes to archiving materials of any kind, anywhere. I have not heard 
> that there is a Korean National Archive which would be the obvious 
> place for such a collection. I was quite surprised when recently the 
> pack of 94 photographic negatives by (?) Carlo Rossetti found a buyer 
> in Korea (I do not know who) at a high price at K Auction after 
> failing to find a buyer ar auctions in Europe, etc. If TB wishes to 
> sell, he would be well advised to take the same route (auction in 
> Korea, probably preceded by an exhibition) but I doubt if he could 
> sell the complete collection as such. It is bound to have materials 
> with varying levels of rarity / interest / value. There are other 
> considerable collections of archival material related to Korea I know 
> of that face the same problem, for even should someone wish to make a 
> donation, I do not really see any institution in Korea qualified and 
> adapted to receive fragile materials such as photos, maps, account 
> books, personal letters, transcribed interviews, diaries . . . . with 
> no immediate purpose other than long-term preservation. 
> 
> The other side of the coin is the considerable amount of older 
> printed material held in certain university libraries in Seoul to 
> which absolutely noobody seems able to gain access. It is only quite 
> recently that Korean academics seem to have realized the interest of 
> the older photographic record. The use made by Korean scholars from 
> Sungyungwan of the photographic materials in the Griffis archive at 
> Rutgers in preparing last year's massive volume 'Photographs of Korea 
> in the William Elliot Griffis Collection' marks a new departure.
> 
> Brother Anthony
> President, RAS Korea
> 
> 

_______________________________
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com