아시아재단의 “Korean Research Center(KRC)” 지원 연구－사회과학연구도서관(1956)/한국연구도서관(1958)/한국연구원(1964)으로의 전개를 중심으로－

Abstract

This is a study that analyzed a support of the Asia Foundation as the U.S. Nongovernmental Aid Organization for ‘Korean Research Center’ focusing on documents of the Asia Foundation that are kept in the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University. ‘Korean Research Center’ is the terminology of commonly naming the substantially same institution, which had been changed its name into Social Science Research Library(Jun. 2, 1956), Korean Research Library(Oct. 11, 1958), Korea Research Institute(Apr. 1962). The Asia Foundation established Korean Research Center, which has Korean staff along with the board of directors comprising 4 university presidents of Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, by accepting the suggestion of Baek Nak-jun who had been the most important adviser of a Korean branch. An executive director of the center was appointed Dong Chun(董天) who was granted a doctorate on Korea-Japan relationship at Colorado State University. This center made a start by having the core function as a library, which purchases or is donated several kinds of books and periodical publications in America and Europe, Korea-related research papers, and microfilm, collects even Korea-related materials, which were produced in Japanese, and offers those things to university professors, researchers, and graduate school students. After this, a research project was carried out side by side, which presents the support fund to a researcher and then publishes its output as ‘Korea Research Series.’ ‘Korea Research Series’ was a learned book at the best level of the day and is a program that has been continued even until now. In addition to this, a guest lecture by the representative East Asian researchers such as Edwin O. Reischauer was also one of the important projects. A support for ‘Korean Research Center’ was one of the most successful programs in the Asia Foundation of the 1950s. Its contribution to academic society in South Korea needs to get the fairly historical perspectives.