경성보육원의 설립과 운영(1919~1945)

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation into Gyeongseong Nursery School, the representative private orphanage established by Korean people in Seoul during the Japanese rule. Gyeongseong Nursery School started at the home of Kim Byeong-chan, who invited orphans to his own home and took care of them(October, 1919). Then it evolved into one of Seoul's representative social welfare institutions through a complex process of proposal for Gyeongseong Relief Center for Orphans(January, 1920), foundation of Gyeongseong Relief Center for Orphans(February, 1920), opening of Gyeongseong Orphanage (May, 1921), approval of a foundation called Gyeongseong Nursery School(May, 1922), and establishment of its Anyang division(September, 1936). There was an ongoing stream of concern and support from sponsors from all social classes as well as the projectors and directors including Yun Chi-ho, Oh Geung-seon, and Kim Byeong-chan throughout the process. Gyeongseong Nursery School is also significant in that it is one of the rare social welfare institutions that remain even today. Gyeongseong Nursery School also received annual support from the Government-General and Gyeongseong Office as the ruling Japanese announced "cultural politics" and reinforced its "social work" including the establishment of Joseon Association of Social Work in the 1920s. Thus the nursery school is important to the understanding of the ruling Japanese's social welfare policies in the 1920s and after. It was the biggest private social welfare center of Seoul and subject to much social interest. In Korea, the early modern and modern history community has not paid much attention to social work institutions such as orphanages and nursing homes, and the social welfare community has not made much effort to arrange the concerned history, either. With few discussions on the subject, the study will offer even the smallest help for the study of Seoul's social work and the ruling Japanese's social welfare policies in those days. In addition, it will help to understand the social aspects of Seoul by showing the annual increase of the number of orphans, starving children, and mission children those days.