American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

The Once and Future Korea (Exhibition)
birth: 1988 April 7
death: 1988 September 25
Exhibition. Opened April 7, 1988 and closed September 25, 1988. Located on Floor in 2 in the Akeley Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. The Once and Future Korea, an Arthur Ross Exhibit of the Month curated by Laurel Kendall of the Museum's Department of Anthropology, featured 80 sepia-toned photographs and artifacts from Korea at the turn of the twentieth century bracketed by color photographs and high-tech objects from Korea from the 1980s.
Summary
The Once and Future Korea, an Arthur Ross Exhibit of the Month curated by Laurel Kendall of the Museum's Department of Anthropology, featured 80 sepia-toned photographs and artifacts from Korea at the turn of the twentieth century bracketed by color photographs and high-tech objects from Korea from the 1980s. The early photographs were taken by Museum explorer Roy Chapman Andrews in rural Korea in 1912. The contrasting images traced the nation's transformation from a traditional peasant society to a world industrial power. The exhibition gallery was decorated to suggest the ambiance of a traditional Korean peasant house with sand-colored walls, wooden beams, baskets and tools, and garlic and red pepper hanging from the walls. Korean folk music was an audio feature (1, p. 3).
The exhibition, which coincided with the Summer Olympics in Seoul (1, p. 1), was supported by the Arthur Ross Foundation, the Korean Cultural Service, Daewoo International (America) Corp., Hyosung (America), Inc., Lucky Goldstar, Samsung America, Sangyong (U.S.A.), Inc., and Sunkyong International, Inc. The exhibition included photographs from the Museum Library and was installed by the Department of Exhibition and Graphics (1, p. 3; 2, p. 60, 62).
Highlights included objects from modern and traditional Korean culture (1, p. 1-2):
*A television set
*Computer graphics
*Color photograph of tall buildings, assembly lines, and athletes
*Neon signs
*An umbrella-shaped paper hat cover for a rainy day
*Talismans for good luck
*Fans
*Iron sticks and a wash paddle
*A wooden doll wearing a veil
*Roy Chapman Andrews' 1912 photographs including ferrymen poling a log boat across the Tumen River, an elderly man worshipping at a mountain shrine, and peddlers traveling along a footpath
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.