Seattle (WA) – the University of Washington’s East Asia Library and Korean American Historical Society (KAHS) are pleased to announce the archive of the Seattle-Washington State Korean Association’s newsletter, “Hanin Hoebo” is now available online via the University of Washington Libraries’ ResearchWorks archive.

Thanks to a grant from the Overseas Koreans Foundation, KAHS and the East Asia Library partnered to digitize 40 years’ worth of monthly newsletters, back to 1973. The digital archive currently consists of 124 newsletters, and includes articles written by Korean Association founder Chang Hei Lee, as well as articles by former State Senator Paull Shin, and former Korean National Assembly member Jay Keun Yoo. Also included are period advertisements from the Korean-owned businesses that supported the community at the time. The newsletters provide an important snapshot of community life through the eyes of its most active members and supporters.

Korean Studies Librarian Hyokyoung Yi managed the task of creating the archives. “The project involved more than 133 hours of student time and involved scanning, post processing the images, creating pdf files, and creating metadata for each item. Besides this student hourly and my time as a project manager, the UW Libraries provided the staff time from the Digital Initiative Department to train students to do those tasks, as well as to mount the final products on the web so the public can access to these issues from around the world. As a librarian, I feel it is very important that we serve as a community repository for community history.”

“This project was brought about by materials from former Korean Association presidents Dr. Mansop Hahn and Mr. John Kwak, who donated their collections of artifacts, newsletters, community directories, and other Korean community documents to KAHS,” explained Matthew Benuska, Secretary Treasurer. Newsletters also came from Korean and Ethnic Studies professors Doo Soo Suh and Sam Solberg.

“KAHS and the East Asia Library each hold our own partial collections of the Hanin Hoebo; together, the collection is much more comprehensive, but not complete. When I contacted Librarian Yi about this collection and the prospect of combining our collections and digitizing them, she was very excited and supportive,” he said. “From her work producing the United States’ first Manhwa exhibit to her monthly Booksori talks, Mrs. Yi has been a tremendous blessing for this community, and I have felt very thankful for her work. We could not have done this without her,” he continued. “KAHS would also like to thank law firm Davis Wright Tremaine for providing copyright review on a pro bono basis,” he said.

Community members wishing to donate additional issues of Hanin Hoebo should contact KAHS.