경남 산청 단계마을의 고문헌 현황 연구

Abstract

Dangye village of Sancheong in Gyeongnam province is where traditional cultural heritage is well conserved. The real life of the villagers―when Dangye village was formed, which lineage group had lived, how they had lived, and which idea they had supported―can be studies through ancient archives written by Dangye villagers. In Dangye village, Donggye lineage group and Dangye lineage group own a number of ancients archives. 383 pieces of ancient books within 161 categories are stored at Donggye Head Family House, and 1,296 pieces within 378 categories at Dangye Old House. The number of ancient documents owned by Donggye lineage group of the Andong Kwon clan and Dangye lineage group of the Sangsan Kim clan reaches up to 1,628 pieces. 144 pieces of woodblocks are stored at Donggye Head Family House, and 247 pieces at Dangye Old House. These have been reported in a research on ancient archives in Dangye village by Gyeongnam Culture Institute of Gyeongsang National University and Advanced Center for Korean Studies. Ancient archives are, however, extremely susceptible to deterioration by fire, insects, and humidity. Once the ancients archives are disappeared or owned by the private sector, researchers may not be able to have access to the archives. In particular, aging population and urban migration in rural areas have accelerated population decline in rural villages. Even though the lineage group has owned ancient archives up to date, the number of people who can translate into contemporary Korean and understand properly is decreasing as Chinese characters are now inaccessible to most of the current population. To make things worse, descendants with a low level of confidence in their lineage group have difficulty in managing their traditional archives in a proper manner. Therefore, the ancient archives, the history records of Dangye village, shall have to be donated to professional research centers so that researchers nationwide can have an easy access to traditional archives and the history of Dangye village can be studied in depth. In addition, ancient archives can be combined with various anthrogeopraphical information of the village and developed into various public contents. Descendants have a grave responsibility to conserve traditional archives, to pass down to future generations, and to make use of them contemporarily as a way of a succession of traditional culture.