YUN, CH‘I-HO, 1865-1945.
Yun Ch‘i-ho papers, 1883-1943

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: Due to the fragile nature of the original diaries, researchers are required to use photocopies or digital surrogates. Original autograph manuscript (1945) copy of Korean National Anthem is restricted; researchers may use, but not copy reproductions of this item.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Special restrictions apply: Original and reproductions of Yun's autograph manuscript (1945) of Korean National Anthem may not be reproduced.

Additional Physical Form

The majority of this collection is available digitally to researchers in the Emory Digital Collections repository.

Related Materials in This Repository

Young John Allen papers and the Warren Akin Candler papers

Source

Gift of the Yun family, 1990, with subsequent additions.

Custodial History

The original acquisition was donated to Emory Unviersity by Chunsung Yun, son of Yun Ch'i-ho. Yun gave the material to J. Thomas Bertrand, former Secretary of the University, in 1990. The University Secretary's office transferred the material to Rose Library in 1993. Additions to the collection were made by Taiwoong (Ted) Chung, grandson of Yun Ch'i-ho, on behalf of the Yun family in 1997, 1999, and 2015. In 2015, Grace Choi, granddaughter of Yun Ch'i-ho, donated the pocket watch presented to Yun Ch'i-ho by the Empress of Japan.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Yun Ch'i-ho papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Acquired as part of the Rose Library's holdings in Methodist history and the history of Emory University.

Processing

Processed by Barbara J. Mann. 2006.

The scrapbook in this collection was conserved by Woodruff Library preservation staff who removed tape by mechanical means and solvent (isopropyl); stabilized and hinged loose items with Japanese tissue and rice starch paste; reinforced support of heavier items with Mohawk paper corners; mended covers with Japanese tissue and PVA, and housed the book in a double-tray box.

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Biographical Note

Yun Ch'i-ho, Methodist teacher and minister, was born in 1864 in Korea. His father, Yun Woong Niel, was a military officer who became the Minister of War. Yun traveled to Japan to observe Japan's modern institutions and stayed on to continue his education which had begun in Korea (1881-1882). It was here that Commodore Lucius H. Foote, the American Minister-designate to Seoul hired Yun to be his interpreter. Yun returned to Korea in this position and was also appointed as a chusa or secretary in the Korean Foreign Office (1883-1885).

Upon his return, Yun became associated with a group of liberal aristocrats whose mission was to bring Korea into closer contact with the rest of the world. The establishment of a postal department was their first goal. During a banquet held to celebrate the meeting of this goal, a group of assassins descended on the banquet and Yun escaped to the American embassy. Foote arranged for Yun to be smuggled aboard an American ship bound for Shanghai (1885).

In Shanghai, Yun enrolled at the Anglo-Chinese College, a Methodist Episcopal Church institution, operated by Dr. Young John Allen (1885). While here Yun converted to Christianity and was baptized into the Methodist Episcopal Church (April 3, 1887).

Allen made arrangements for Yun to become a theology student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee (1888-1891). He then transferred to Emory College in Oxford, Georgia (1891-1893). During the summers, while at Emory, Yun visited rural churches to help raise money to support his educational endeavors. Yun was able to save $200 above his needs that was entrusted to Emory's President Warren A. Candler, earmarked for the establishment of a Methodist Church in Korea.

Unable to return to Korea because of the political strife there, he returned to Shanghai as a teacher in the Anglo-Chinese College. While here, he married Mo Tsu-Sung, a Chinese student (1893-1895).

A change in the political situation allowed Yun to finally return to Korea. He was appointed secretary to the Premier and six months later promoted to Vice-Minister of Education. From this position he was named Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs (1895-1896). During this time (1895) Yun helped to establish a Korean mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Yun became involved with the Independence Club, one of the first modern political movements in Korea, and became president and editor of the newsletter The Independent (1896-1898). Because of his political activism, the Korean government sought to remove him from the capital by appointing him as magistrate at Wonsan, and to other posts in Chinnamp'o and Ch'onan (1899-1904). He returned to Seoul and served as Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs (1904-1906).

At this point in his life, Yun decided to abandon his political work and devoted himself to Christian work. Yun established the Anglo-Korean School at Songdo (1906). Yun had always believed that western training in agriculture and manufacturing, coupled with the development of the work ethic, were the ways to help Korea end the cycle of poverty and discontent. The school at Songdo, an industrial school, was established with this goal in mind.

Yun was imprisoned for four years (1911-1915), along with five others, on suspicion of the murder of Japanese Governor-General of Korea, Count Terauchi, due to his underground patriotic activities. Upon his release he continued with his work at Songdo and helped to establish the Korean Y.M.C.A (1915-1925), retiring from active life in 1925. Yun died December 6, 1945. Biographical sources: "Indomitable Baron Yun: An Emory Immortal" by Webb Garrison, Emory University Quarterly, December 1952, and "A Korean at Oxford" by Donald M. Bishop, The Emory Magazine, vol. 52, no. 3, 1976.

Scope and Content Note

The Yun Ch'i-ho papers consists mainly of diaries of Yun Ch'i-ho (1883, 1889-1905; 1916-1935, 1938-1941, and 1943). The diaries document Yun’s activities as a secretary in the Korean Foreign Office (1883-1885), as a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee (1888-1891) and Emory College in Oxford, Georgia (1891-1893), and as a teacher in the Anglo-Chinese College in Shanghai (1893-1895). Also included are correspondence, writings by Yun, material pertaining to Yun's appointment in Russia, menus, and a photograph.

The Yun diaries are soft-bound. All are in English, except for the 1883 diary. They contain daily entries about events in his life and reflections on life, religion, and politics.

The correspondence includes letters to and from Warren A. Candler. These letters, dating 1895, 1906-1908, discuss Yun's work in Korea, especially the Songdo School, also known as Kaesong-si, and the Korean political climate including relations with Japan.

Other materials included in this collection are a letter to the editor of the Korea Daily News (18 August 1904) written by Yun, a speech on the Far East delivered at the Chicago Auditorium (May 1910), and a writing by Yun [1904] that discusses Japanese force in Korea; "Outline Programme for School" by Warren Candler (1906?); and materials related to Yun's appointment in Russia (1896, 1899). Two copies of the Korean National Anthem, one in Yun's hand (1945) and the other a presentation copy which includes a portrait of Yun. Miscellaneous menus and a photograph of Yun, Emory alumni, and others taken in Seoul (1926) complete the collection.