Founded in 1943, the Korea Collection was the first in the United States. It supports the largest program of Korean Studies
outside Korea. It has been developing collections in the arts, humanities, business, and social sciences.
Since 1994, the collection has participated in the cooperative collection development program of
the Korean Collections Consortium of North America funded by the Korea Foundation, Seoul, Korea.
The University of Hawaii's responsibilities in this resource-sharing program are to build a comprehensive collection
on Cheju-do, architecture, history to 1392, modern social conditions, nationalism, public health, traditional music, and urban planning and urban studies.
Another responsibility as a part of this program is the acquisition of resources on Korea and Koreans published in Europe.
Among the Collection's notable resources are microfilms of the Kyujanggak(奎章閣) collection (Choson Dynasty royal collections); microfilms of the Imanish(今西) Collection of the Korean historical sources
owned by Tenri Central Library, Japan; and partial manuscripts of the Choson Ch'ongdokpu Chungch'uwon (朝鮮總督府 中樞院).
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