Living Through Forgotten War: Portrait of Korea

2010 marks the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Living Through Forgotten War: Portrait of Korea , the exhibition catalog the 2004 show of photos taken by U.S. GIs in Korea from 1950 through 1952, stands as an informative and moving witness to the conflict.

The catalog reproduces 30 of the exhibition's black and white photographs accompanied by thorough captions that explain the history and cultural context of the images. The photographs in Living Through Forgotten War: Portrait of Korea eschew the combat and military hardware shots typical in war photography, and instead focus on the everyday experiences of soldiers, civilians, refugees and even prisoners. In doing so, invites a deeper understanding of Korean history by depicting the dislocation, isolation and loss of the conflict as well as the hope that managed to survive.

Edited by Patrick Dowdey, curator of the Mansfied Freeman Center for East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University, Living Through Forgotten War: Portrait of Korea, the catalog also features two essays—by Bruce Cumings, Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Histor y at the University of Chicago, and John Kie-chiang Oh, professor of politics at The Catholic University of America—that connect the images to critical events in the conflict, and explain their relevance today.

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Sample pages from the Exhibition Catalog, available to purchase here

Missionary Photography in Korea : Encountering the West through Christianity

When Western missionaries arrived in Korea in the late nineteenth century, they created new religious identities, stoked cultural clashes, and changed the country's history forever. The missionaries also documented their era with early cameras. Missionary Photography in Korea: Encountering the West through Christianity, the largest exhibition missionary photography in the U.S. went on display at The Korea Society Gallery in New York in 2009 to present this unique moment in the history of East Asia to the public. Now the official catalog, featuring more than 70 of the exhibition's photos along with informative captions and essays, is available for sale.

The catalog's images, taken between 1887 and 1938, provide a glimpse of dramatic social changes in progress—missionary doctors and Korean doctors, switchboard operators, Christian weddings, new buildings, schools, teachers, football and tennis teams, crowded roofs, hairdressers, Benedictine industrial schools, Bible translation sessions and much more—that absorb the reader in their abundance of character and detail. Each photograph is accompanied by an extensive caption on the facing page that puts the scene in historical and cultural context.

More than deeply engaging collection of rare photographs, Missionary Photography in Korea: Encountering the West through Christianity is also a solid reference book on the subject of early missionary activities in Korea, and includes essays by top scholars on Korean missionary work such as Don Baker and Donald N. Clark. Its publication commemorates the inauguration of Missionary Photography in Korea: Encountering the West through Christianity, the largest exhibition of Korean missionary photos in the U.S., mounted in The Korea Society Gallery from May 19 to August 14, 2009.

Missionary Photography in Korea: Encountering the West through Christianity is edited by Donald N. Clark, professor of history and the director of International Studies Program at Trinity University. Clark, the son of missionaries, is the author of Culture and Customs of Korea and Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience , 1900-1950, and has been a Peace Corps volunteer, a Social Science Research Council fellow, and a Fulbright scholar. His research focuses on Korea, where he has spent much of his life.