1920년대 경성도서관의 강연회와 조선의 문화운동

Abstract

This paper aims to consider the contents and the meaning of the cultural events like lecture meetings held in Gyeongseong Library in the context of cultural movement in the 1920s. Gyeongseong Library, which was established in 1921 by Lee Beomseung, became a base of activity of groups like ‘Joseon Young Women’s Association’ and ‘Modern Boy’s Club’. The ‘women lecture’ of Joseon Young Women’s Association and the ‘children’s story meeting’ and the ‘hobby lectures’ of Modern Boy’s Club had been held free of charge in the children’s room in Gyeongseong Library and only women and children could participate in the events. For the events, translation, pictures, experiments, music, etc. were used to lower the barrier to entry to knowledge acquisition. The topics of the lectures held in Gyeongseong Library were focused on the social education for women and children in Joseon while containing diversectured characteristic values like ethnicity, science, equality, religion. The lectures held in Gyeongseong Library are distinctly distinguished with the lectures having government-manufactured characteristics held in Gyeongseong Prefectural Library although the events had a risk of being connected with the social enlightenment policy of the Japanese Government General of Korea in the 1920s. The lectures of Gyeongseong Prefectural Library were mostly hosted by government friendly organizations like Joseon Social Work Research Society and Gyeongseong Library Research Society or the Japanese Government General of Korea. The audience of the lectures tended to be restricted to academic society members and public lectures opened to general audiences were progressed in Japanese language. The topics of the lectures were also based on expertise like social reforms and Japanese religion. Contrast with the lectures of Gyeongseong Prefectural Library, the lectures held in Gyeongseong Library have a meaning in the point that those exposed human beings who had been excluded from publicness, i.e. people who had not experienced public space like library because of the limitation about gender and age, shortage of time and money, etc. and had provided the chance of learning.