• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.255-269
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• 2021

A vast amount of materials-such as prints, woodblock prints, manuscripts, old novels, and letters-written in old Korean and using old grammar and/or obsolete characters, are collected in many institutions, including the Jangseogak at the Academy of Korean Studies. Digitization of these texts has required a prolonged manual inputting process. Individual researchers, who majored in old Korean, have read and typed the characters into electronic documents, which depends upon individual skill, effort, and approach, and is particularly limiting because none can be significantly increased. To date, only a small proportion of the old Korean document collections, currently kept in storage, have been digitized and made available to the public. Even the electronic formats of the texts prove difficult to displaying correctly, due to the incompatibility between the old Korean characters and the character set on today's electronic devices. To improve the techniques and efficiency of digitizing old Korean texts, it is necessary to develop optical character recognition (OCR), which will analyze images of old Korean documents, as well as input, display, and storage methods.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.52-77
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• 2016

A spirit tablet of king Guan Yu is enshrined in Donggwanwangmyo shrine[East Shrine of King Guan Yu], which houses 51 hanging boards. The hanging boards were written by the kings of Joseon Dynasty and envoys and generals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most studies on hanging boards have been focused on the collections of the palaces but not on those in Donggwanwangmyo shrine. In this regard, this study researches the hanging boards of the kings' writings in the late Joseon period and analyzes their forms and contents. In terms of contents, it examines who made the boards, when they made them, and what brought them to make them, etc. This study analyzes the forms of hanging boards by types, used materials, and periodic transition of forms. The findings are as follows. First, Donggwanwangmyo shrine houses 7 pieces of hanging boards inscribed with kings' handwriting: one piece of King Sukjong, 4 pieces of King Yeongjo, and 2 pieces of Emperor Gojong. They are divided into two types: one is the name of the buildings and the other is the poems that the kings wrote regarding what they felt when they visited the shrine. Especially, the latter were written by the kings who visited the shrine in spring and autumn. The kings intended to promote peace of royal family through a sense of royalty and fidelity of King Guan Yu. Second, the hanging boards of the kings are differentiated from those of the envoys and generals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in materials and forms. The background of the board is colored by blue, deep red lacquer color, and black lacquer color, which are more expensive than black color or white color. The hanging boards are embossed with the kings' handwritings and then colored with gold. The frame-style four-side hanging board is held at a 45-degree angle and painted with floral patterns and seven-treasure patterns in Dancheong technique. The left and right sides and the top and bottom sides of the board are decorated with Dang-cho pattern(Korean arabesque pattern). This style is called "quadrilateral"and considered the most classy and top-class among the other three ones. In conclusion, this study confirms the status of Donggwanwangmyo shrine with hanging boards inscribed with kings' handwritings as a political space where kings had interest and demanded their soldiers' royalty and fidelity. Research into the boards inscribed with the handwritings of envoys of the Ming Dynasty and generals of the Qing Dynasty, and the comparison of the styles and periodic transition of forms will be reserved for another study.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.40
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• pp.207-241
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• 2007

This paper investigates the royal collection of paintings and calligraphy during King Gojong's (高宗) reign (1897~1907) based on the function of the Jipgyeong-dang Hall (緝敬堂), situated at "sleeping realm (寢殿)," Gyeongbok Palace. Using the surviving palace records and art works this study argues that the date of building the hall is approximately confined to the year of 1890. Not being matched with the general opinion that the Jipgyeong-dang Hall was used for the official meeting with envoys, this hall functioned as the main place for royal audience and the storehouse for archives. The role of Gojong as collector and patron was essential not only to the maintenance of the collection but also to the strengthening of royal authority just before the Japanese annexation in 1910. The specific titles of the collection at this hall can be verified through the Catalogue of the Books, Paintings, and Calligraphy Exposed to the Sun at Jipgyeong-dang Hall (緝敬堂曝曬書目) dating to the nineteenth century. The records of the catalogue inform us that more than 1,000 paintings and pieces of calligraphy, inkrubbings from old steles, manuals for painting, and encyclopedia concerning art theories from Korea, China, and Japan were preserved there. The collection of Jipgyeong-dang Hall resulted from Gojong's policy to foster the collection of contemporary Chinese and Japanese art works and various catalogues. Standing behind the Gyeongbok Palace, the Jibok-jae Hall (集玉齋) also preserved the diverse sources of practical learning, as did the Jipgyong-dang Hall for Gojong. The enormous royal collections by Gojong might have been constructed in accordance with the royal artistic taste and the artistic milieu of the late Joseon period. The surviving royal catalogues confirm this assumption as documentary evidence.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.66-83
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• 2018

This article focuses how the materials of hatstrings of the 19th to 20th century gat, the Korean top hat for men among the collections of National Folk Museum of Korea, was transformed after port opening treaties with overseas since 1876. As a result of analyzing the materials of the hatstrings, amber, tortoiseshell, wood and bamboo as the traditional materials were used, and ivory, glass (soda glass, lead glass, alkali mixed glass) and plastics (cellulose nitrate, phenol-formaldehyde, polystyrene, acryl) were newly used for the hatstrings. Bamboo, wood and amber were the most frequently used materials. Bamboo was mainly used for the pipe of hatstring and were combined with beads and central decorations of other materials. This shows the trend of bamboo hatstring according to the simplification of the clothing and the culture by Regent Heungseon Daewongun. Ambers were used in the central decorations and beads and the origin of ambers was baltic amber just like the amber relics found in Korea. Compositions of glass were soda glass and alkali mixed glass which were excavated or handed down in Korea from ancient times to Joseon dynasty. But in the case of lead glass, Na2O was detected and it is considered to be a new type lead glass for crafts which came from overseas after port opening since 1876 because it showed the characteristic that it deviates from the lead glass component found in Korea. Plastics such as cellulose nitrate and phenol-formaldehyde were used as new synthetic materials to replace traditional materials such as tortoiseshell, amber, and coral as in the West. Cracks, crazing, crumbly and yellowing of cellulose nitrate of hatstrings were observed by deterioration. The survey of the materials of the 19th to 20th century hatstrings among the collections of National Folk Museum of Korea showed that the introduction of new materials such as glass and plastics were used to replace natural materials such as tortoiseshell and amber along with the use of traditional materials after port opening since 1876.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.54-79
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• 2024

The purpose of this research is to fill the vacuum created by the tendency of bias towards China among the curators of Korean museums who plan exhibitions focusing on Balhae, and to share with researchers in the countries concerned various supplementary research materials that could deepen their understanding of the history of Balhae. These materials are based on analyses of the details of exhibitions about Balhae held in a particular Russian museum and the characteristics of and changes in the museum's operational policy. Thus, this research focuses mainly on the permanent and special exhibitions held by the Far East History Museum and Reserve, whose collection represents the archaeological achievements of Russia regarding the history of Balhae. The first part of the research focuses on the layout of the exhibitions presented by the museum and the museum's operational policy. It reveals that the museum's permanent exhibitions follow a diachronic arrangement of the local history, while the first and second special exhibitions featured exhibits that were selected from the collections of the Russian Academy of Sciences and arranged according to specific themes. It also examines the museum's policy for operating the exhibitions, focusing on the operational rules, the human resources deployed to run them, and the related educational and PR programs. The second part of the research examines such issues as local politics, economy, education and culture related to the exhibitions on Balhae's history, and connects them to the background and development of the exhibitions. This study reveals that the permanent exhibitions were intended to promote historical awareness of the local area by museum visitors, particularly those who visited the exhibitions while the city was hosting important events such as international summits. It also reveals that the museum's first special exhibition led to the promotion of Korea-Russia cooperation on exchanges in the fields of culture and tourism, whereas the second special exhibition involved no PR efforts or related events, which was probably due to the changes that have occurred in the relationship between Russia and its neighboring countries since then. The final part of the study focuses on the characteristic features of the exhibition narratives, and compares school textbooks on local history and history books for general readers with the contents of the exhibitions. The analysis of the narratives based on the development of time shows that the history of the Mohe (or Malgal) tribes has been combined with that of Balhae, while they are treated separately in school textbooks. As regards political history, the narrative was largely focused on officials in Balhae's central government rather than on Mohe warriors in the border areas. The maps of Balhae presented in the exhibitions highlight the importance of accumulating empirical data. As for the exhibition of material cultures, this study suggests that the museums should obtain more archaeological floral and faunal remains related with agriculture and hunting. It also points out that the narrative on the theme of foreign relations deals with the archaeological relics of Unified Silla together with those of the Turkic tribes. As for the theme of philosophy and culture, the narrative focused on the state ceremonies and rituals of Goguryeo, a theme that has attracted little attention among Korean academic circles and which consequently requires further study. In conclusion, this study is meaningful in that it suggests a number of research topics regarding the development of exhibitions and exhibition narratives about the history of Balhae by a prestigious Russian museum that specializes in this subject.

• KOMUNHWA
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• no.68
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• pp.25-39
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• 2006

This article attempts to define identity, role and functions of a university museum and to suggest specialization of the university museum in the perspective of culture, arts, and science. A university museum is defined as a center for the service of the university community and its development which acquires, researches, communicates, exhibits and educates, for purposes of eduinfotainment,29 material evidence of people and their environment. The target user of the today's university museum are not only professors, students, university workers, but also university neighbourhood such as the related professionals, patrons, parents, school children and villagers. A multi-dimensional and multi-purpose university museum can be established and managed in a real world and / or a cyber world in the perspective of culture, arts, and science. Based on a ubiquitous system30 in a cyber world vis-a-vie a real world, the university museum can be easily utilized by users anywhere, anytime and any device. In order to specialize the university museum in the perspective of culture, arts and science, it is desirable that the university museum director with the CEO of the university community promote the specialization of the university museum based on philosophy and strategies of university community management after they definitely evaluate the components and resources of the university museum such as human powers, museum collections, organizational, technological, capital, spacial and symbolic resources, The specialization of the university museum should be projected and executed in the direction of maintaining the typical scope of museum activities and managing the effective museum management. Specializing the university museum in the perspective of culture, arts, and science can contribute not only to establish the identity of the university community and to perform role and functions of the university museum but also to encourage academic development, to revaluate the brand of the university community and to promote the marketing for the university.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.511-518
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• 2020

There have been reports that the "jeongcho (定礎)" letters of the foundation stone at the historical site No. 280 of the "Main Building of the Bank of Korea in Seoul" were written by Prince Ito Hirobumi (伊藤博文), the first Resident-General of Japan in Korea. An on-site investigation by an advisory group consisting of three experts in calligraphy; revealed that the two characters of '定礎' inscribed on the foundation stone are the characteristics of Ito Hirobumi's handwriting, judging from the writing style and habits observed in the collections of the Central Library of Hamamatsu City, Japan. It was reported that his writing was confirmed by the experts, but no basis was provided. To provide more objective and quantitative supporting data, rather than qualitative judgment based on feeling, it is necessary to present the basis for judgment through quantitative image comparison results through image analysis. In this paper, using image analysis software, Ito Hirobumi's calligraphy writing and the inscribed characters of the foundation stone were compared and analyzed to confirm the contents of the press release. The character comparison process and character area measurement results are a good example showing that if objective judgment basis data are needed in a similar situation, an objective judgment basis can be prepared through quantification using image analysis.

• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.30
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• pp.89-100
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• 2023

Museum collections are comprised of a variety of materials, and different scientific examinations are being conducted according to the types and production properties of the materials, but insufficient research has been carried out on ultra-small artifacts. To identify the material characteristics of the white ultra-small materials excavated from Geumnyeongchong tomb, this study carried out a wide range of non-destructive analyses (specific gravity, microscopy, nano-computed tomography (Nano-CT), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy) and compared the said artifacts with the Goryeo-era burial accessories examined in prior research. Non-destructive analysis confirmed the presence of aragonite, which mainly consists of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) as the constituent mineral, and identified the material used for the ornaments as the gemstone pearl based on its growth lines. This study concludes that pearls began to be used in the ancient Korean Peninsula in the 6^th century. It is expected that scientific examinations of the white ultra-small artifacts will yield information about the social culture of the time.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2014

Large scale anoxic chamber system(volume $28m^3$) was developed and installed at The National Folk Museum of Korea for the first time in Korea. In order to get optimal anoxic treatment condition, we compared the disinfection of adults, larvae and eggs of cigarette beetles using nitrogen and argon. The time for complete disinfection of cigarette beetles in pine wooden blocks exposed to nitrogen at oxygen concentration 0.01% and 50% in relative humidity were 15 days at $20^{\circ}C$, 10 days at $25^{\circ}C$, and 7 days $30^{\circ}C$. Time were 10 days at $20^{\circ}C$, 7 days at $25^{\circ}C$, and 5 days $30^{\circ}C$ in argon anoxic atmosphere. From the mortality of cigarette beetles, optimal disinfection condition was oxygen concentration 0.01%, $25^{\circ}C$ in temperature, 50% in relative humidity and exposure time 21 days at nitrogen atmosphere. And when large scale anoxic chamber system was supplied nitrogen by nitrogen generator for anoxic treatment of many collections or large collections, it could be operated stably. To verify optimal disinfection condition, museum insects(adults, larvae, pupae and eggs of cigarette beetles in pine wooden blocks, cotton fabrics and Korean paper book, adults and larvae of drugstore beetles in pine wooden blocks, cotton fabrics and Korean paper book, larvae of varied carpet beetles in pine wooden block and silk fabrics, adults and larvae of hide beetles and adults of rice weevils in breeding boxes) which exposed at optimal disinfection condition, were completely killed.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.219-234
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• 2014

Fabrics, natural dyed fabrics, papers, natural dyed papers and paints were examined effects of colors and mechanical properties for materials of museum collections under anoxic treatment. Anoxic conditions using nitrogen and argon were oxygen concentration 0.01%, temperature($20^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$, $30^{\circ}C$), 50% RH and exposure time 30 days. Examined fabrics were raw silk fabric, UV irradiated raw silk fabric, degummed silk fabric, UV irradiated degummed silk fabric, cotton fabric, and UV irradiated cotton fabric. Natural dyed silk and cotton fabrics were dyed with fresh indigo, indigo, safflower, gromwell, madder sappanwood, amur cork tree, turmeric, gardenia, barberry root, pagoda tree flower, cochineal, lac, alnus japonica, gallnut, chestnut shell, and combination(indigo and safflower, indigo and amur cork tree, indigo and pagoda tree flower, indigo and sappanwood). Papers were Korean papers(mulberry paper, mulberry(70%) and rice straw(30%) mixed paper), Japanese paper(gampi paper), cotton paper, refined linen paper, cotton, linen & manila mixed fibre furnish, copy paper, news print, and alum sized mulberry paper. Natural dyed papers were dyed with indigo, sappanwood, madder, safflower, gardenia, amur cork tree, and pagoda tree flower. Paints were painted on alum-sized papers and silk fabrics using glue and pigments(azurite, malachite, cinnabar, vermilion, orpiment, gamboge, red lead, haematite, iron oxide red, indigo(lake), lac, cochineal, safflower, madder root lake, celadonite, smalt, ultramarine blue, lapis lazuli, prussian blue, kaolin, lead white, oyster-shell white, and clam-shell white). The color differences(${\Delta}E^*$) of all examined materials were below 1.5 or lowered than control samples after anoxic treatment. The variations of tenacity of yarns of fabrics and natural dyed fabrics after anoxic treatment were within that of standard silk and cotton fabrics. Gases(nitrogen and argon) and temperatures of anoxic treatment did not also affected color differences and variations of tenacity of materials.