Over at kottke.org, Jason Kottke links to some of the highlights of the New York Times archives, all 150 years of it now open to all since the paper abandoned its subscription wall. (HT to Coming Anarchy)
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English Books on Korea... and More!
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18 Comments
Good stuff. I wonder how quickly someone will pull up the Pukitzer-winning reporting of Walter “Famine? What Famine?” Duranty. Or the reports on how badly the Allies were bungling the occupation of Germany in 1946.
BTW–”Pukitzer” was a typo that somehow looks better than “Pulitzer.”
What a great source of information. Thanks for the heads up. I’m definitely going to head over there during the Chuseok vacation and check it out.
Articles going all the way back to 1851, and all articles free and full-text from 1851 to 1922! Too seductive…must…stay…away….
Google or Chinese ADRs for the next six months?
actually, many I’ve searched for still must be paid for. Basically everything from 1900-1980
Up to 1922 seems to be free, with PDF versions of the full articles. Here’s an article from October 14th, 1922, on a tour of major league exhibition Baseball games to be played in East Asia that autumn: Baseball Tourists Start Trip Today (search results page here).
The key seems to be to use the Advanced Search option and limit the search to everything up to December 31st, 1922, in order to filter out newer stuff that requires a fee to view the full text.
Robert,
You need to correct your entry. Here’s what the NYT actually states about its open archives:
I just spent about 45 minutes poking around. There is a a treasure trove of oldies from the turn of the century. Hint: search both “Korea” and “Corea.” When you search “Corea,” use another key word, too; otherwise, your first results will be all about that musician. “Chosun” works, too, but there is less material. Most stories relating to the aftermath of WWII and the Korean War are not free.
Below are some links to a few gems:
A Sight at Korea’s King (1887)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94669FD7CF
The Loss of the General Sherman (1868)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....8383679FDE
Corea Asks Japan’s Help: Independence of China Said to Have Been Declared (1894)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94659ED7CF
Corea Rid of the Mins: Abuses of a Clan Which Was Despotic Under China’s Rule (1895)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94649ED7CF
(no title - interesting description of Koreans’ ethnic origins, physical appearance, and temperament (1882) http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94639FD7CF
Japan’s Wars with China: Corea Had Been for Centuries the Pretext for Invasion (1898)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94649ED7CF
King of Korea’s New Title (1897)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94669ED7CF
Korea and the Koreans (1898)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94699ED7CF
Korea: Isabella Bird Bishop’s Recent Travels in that Country (1898)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94699ED7CF
Many Eyes Are On Corea: Great Powers Waiting for a Chance to Sieze It (1892)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....ref=slogin
New Publication: Curzon on Corea, China, and Japan (1894)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94659ED7CF
Our Little War (1871)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....838A669FDE
Out of Foreign Papers: A Private Trip to Corea (1881)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94609FD7CF
The Troubles in Corea (1882)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94639FD7CF
The War in Corea: Origin of the Troubles (1894)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94659ED7CF
Two Great Massacres: The Murder of the Royal Family of Corea (1882)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94639FD7CF
and last but not least:
Use of Tobacco in Korea: Consul General Allen Says the Natives of Both Sexes are Inveterate Smokers (1898)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....94699ED7CF
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Was that 1898, or should it be 1998?
Amazing - this makes me very happy. I can’t even imagine how much easier it is to be a history undergrad these days, able to do loads of research without leaving the house…
Chosen might also be a good search word for Korea related articles.
“Chosen might also be a good search word for Korea related articles.”
No it wouldn’t. Although it may mean “Korea” in japanese, remember, it is also a frequently used English word with a totally different meaning.
One way to get around the problem of dual meanings is to use other specific key words and take advantage of the “oldest first” sort function. I tried that and still came up with quite a few unrelated results. I did enjoy this story:
The Buddhist Religion: It is explained by a Chinaman
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a.....ref=slogin
The language of these old stories makes modern MSM writing seem so dry and colorless.
MSM =?
CH3 S02 CH3?
Morehouse School of Management?
Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems?
Manhattan School of Music?
Monster Skateboard Magazine?
or just another functionally useless infra acronym?
Sonagi,
These links are awesome, just regretful that I did not know about these articles when I was still in school!
MSM = mainstream media
# 14
Hear, hear. Many thanks Sonagi - this is great stuff.
I’ve had a membership for the archives for some months now, and I’ve gotten a good bit of the stuff up at the blog http://www.usinkorea.org/blog1
There is one really funny item from the late 1800s about one of the first unofficial official visits to the US by top level Koreans, maybe even royal family, if I could remember clearly, where they went home after a month or so because of the culture shock. I believe it was in that article that they mentioned something about kids throwing mud at the delegation when it was traveling in Ohio or some such place.
I was poking around various key dates in Korean history with my alloted monthly limit (100 articles) for awhile, but when the anniversary of the start of the Korean War came around, I switched to a day-to-day coverage of it, and it uses up all my time and pay-per-view articles.
I have to use screen shots to grab sections from the articles, so load times might be slow for some longer posts…
The sheer amount of notes on infiltrators at the start of the war and around the time of the Nogunri Massacre are interesting for anybody interested in that item….
Also to renote, google book search has a TREASURE CHEST full of pre-1930s or so books you can read online or download for free.
There is A TON of stuff on East Asia and Korea.
The books by Japanese authors on Japan’s position in East Asia and reasons for approaching Korea from around 1900-1920 are ones people here would love to read, I’m sure.
If you are into English literature or world religions/philosophy, there are tons of material by well-known but pre-post modern authors available. Things like James Legge’s translations and academic work on Confucianism and other Chinese classical works - including stuff you can’t really find even in a good university library in the US.
If you like things like William Blake’s poetry and designs - it’s gold.
Or books written in the 16 and 1700s…
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