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Finding Aid for the Hyung-ju Ahn Collection of Korean Materials, 1902-1959
368
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Title: Hyung-ju Ahn Collection of Korean Materials,
Date (inclusive): 1902-1959
Collection number: 368
Creator:
Ahn, Hyung-ju
Extent: 10 boxes (5 linear ft.)
1 oversize box
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Hyung-ju (also known as Henry) Ahn graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania
in 1964, worked as a computer systems analyst for aerospace companies and for Orange County, California (1965-95), and received
his MA in history from California State University, Fullerton. He wrote his thesis on Korean interpreters at Japanese-American
internment camps during World War II. The collection contains mostly Korean printed materials, including religion and history
books, and textbooks published under Japanese occupation. Also contains an original documentary motion picture film, Mugunghwa
Tongsan (Hibiscus Garden), about the Korean community in Hawaii from 1900-47.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Hyung-ju Ahn, 1997.
[Identification of item], Hyung-ju Ahn Collection of Korean Materials (Collection 368). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4230300
Hyung-ju (also known as Henry) Ahn was born in Seoul, Korea; attended Seoul National University for two years; came to Honolulu,
Hawaii in 1957 and then Reedley, California a few years later; graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1964; worked as a computer systems analyst for aerospace companies and for Orange County,
California from 1965-95; MA in history from California State University, Fullerton; wrote his thesis on Korean interpreters
at Japanese-American internment camps during World War II.
Hyung-ju Ahn [Korean characters], or Henry Ahn, was born in Seoul and attended Seoul National University for two years. In 1957 he came to Honolulu where his
paternal grandfather, Reverend Chang-ho Ahn [Korean characters], had been a minister since 1926 at the Korean Methodist churches
in Wahiawa, Oahu and in Honolulu. A Couple of years later, he joined his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ho Kim
[Korean characters] in Reedley, California. Charles Ho Kim had come to the United States in 1914 and his wife came 35 years
later.
Hyung-ju Ahn graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. From 1965
to 1995, he worked as a computer systems analyst for aerospace companies and the County of Orange. He also earned a Master
of Arts degree in history from California State University, Fullerton. His second master's thesis was “the Korean Interpreters
at Japanese Alien Detention Centers During World War II.”
Beginning in 1987, Hyung-ju Ahn visited his relatives to interview and to collect Korean American primary source materials.
He interviewed his great-aunt in Detroit, whose late husband, C.C. Ahn [Korean characters], came to Honolulu in January 1903
on the first shipload of Korean to come to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. He also interviewed his grand-aunt in Hilo,
Hawaii, whose father was an elder brother of C.C. Ahn and had sailed with him to Hawaii. Hyung-ju visited many historic Korean
American sites and surveyed primary source materials including newsreels, home movies, documentary films, photographs, documents,
audio recordings, and unpublished manuscripts written both in Korean and English.
Collection contains mostly Korean printed materials, including religion and history books, and textbooks published under Japanese
occupation. Includes 1902 passport, Korean Bible, fiction works, and a 1919 Korean Provisional Government savings bond issued
in 1919. Also contains an original documentary motion picture film, Mugunghwa Tongsan (Hibiscus Garden), about the Korean
community in Hawaii from 1900-47.
The Hyung-ju Ahn Archival Collection consists of his great-uncle's passport issued to him by the Korean Imperial Government in 1902 to allow him to emigrate to
Hawaii; his great uncle's Korean Bible and Korean fiction works; textbooks published in Hawaii and the Mainland United States
for Korean language schools; textbooks published in Korea prior to 1910; a one-hundred dollar Korean Provisional Government
savings bond issued in 1919; textbooks published in Korea under Japanese rule, which were used at the Korean Central School
[Korean characters] in Honolulu in the 1920s; and the thirty-minute documentary film on the Korean American community in Hawaii
entitled “Mugunghwa tongsan” [[Korean characters] Hibiscus Garden], which was directed by his father in 1947.
Arranged in the following series:
- Books and documents on Korean Independence Movement and Korean Immigrant History (Box 1).
- Books published under Korean imperial government (Box 2).
- Textbooks published under Japanese rule (Box 3).
- Books on religion (Box 4).
- General history books (Boxes 5-6).
- Chinese language books (Boxes 7-8).
- Miscellaneous books (Boxes 9-10).
- Film, Mugunghwa Tongsan (Hibiscus Garden), 1947 (Box 11).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Ahn, Hyung-ju--Archives.
Korea--Civilization--Archival resources.
Korean American Oral History Project (Collection 1414)
. Available at the UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.