The Establishment and Studies on Local History of the Pukyung Institute for Korean History

Abstract

This article attempts to review the foundation and activities of the Pukyung Institute for Korean History. And it examines the achievements of the institute and the extended suggestions for the institute as well. From 1992, there had been a discussion on the establishment of the institute. As a result, it was founded on February 19, 1994 with the aim of studying on local history and popularizing history. As for its organization, there were the general assembly, the council, an auditor, the steering committee, a director, the first and second research bureaus, the secretariat, and the editing bureau. Shortly after, the second research bureau was abolished. And the planning office was newly installed and operated. Popularizing history has been carried out in two primary direction: public lectures and history trips. The public lectures have been given on a wide variety of historical subjects. The institute also had consistently a number of the history trips from the time when it was established to 2007. Recently, the institute is pushing forward the two activities by the Non-profit Organization Support Project of Busan. The institute has generated the academic achievements on local history as follows. First, a number of historical books for the public were published including following works: 『Gaya History for Citizen』, 『The History of Busan for Citizen』, and 『History of Busan for Citizen』. The institute also authored some academic texts like 『Korean History and Korean People』 in two volume which was intended as a historical introduction. In addition, the institute have held 28 symposia on local history such as ‘Review and Suggestion for Local History,’ the first symposium, and ‘local movements in Busan and Gyeongnam area in the modern and contemporary times’ in commemoration of 50th anniversary of Korean Liberation. These symposia have been contributed greatly to studies on local history and Korean history.