The Archives of the Republic of Korea: Historical and Documentary Heritage

The article discusses the history of collecting, preservation and use of the documentary heritage of South Korea. It also analyses the historical experience of collecting sources since ancient times. It is underlined that in Korea special attention has traditionally been granted to history and archives since the establishment of the History Department in the 10th century. The paper describes the main stages in the formation of the archival heritage of Korea. It deals with the notion of the so called “silllok” - the sources for the “chonsa” dynastic records - that turned out to be short everyday notes and weather chronicles. It is emphasized that seven hand-written South Korean historic masterpieces were included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme. The history of the creation of different national archives, manuscript departments and libraries as well as the main trends in their activities are being analyzed; the article also features the composition of the archives and the contents of their documentary funds. A network of the contemporary archives of the Republic of Korea is presented. The article accentuates that it is necessary to study and use the South Korean experience in electronic document management in present-day practice, including the system of electronic document turnover at state organizations which is connected with the electronic archives and the verification system of historic electronic signatures.

National Archives of the Republic of Korea, History Department, sillok, National History Compilation Committee, Government Archives and Records Service, Records Management Standards, UNESCO, World Memory, «Память мира»

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