Abstract

Museum collections of Korean art and ethnographic objects outside Korea are often explained as the product of national endeavors on the one hand, or as uprooted overseas cultural heritage on the other. This research argues for a holistic approach to understanding the cultural significance of such objects as a combination of their material attributes and as part of a larger body of Korean relics of the past, and their contextual attributes such as the circumstances, networks, and individual actions that have led to them ending up in the museum. By acknowledging also the importance of these opposing views of what makes Korean collections outside Korea culturally significant, we can preserve the history surrounding them more completely and more accurately. This article proposes the mobilization of a digital approach to gathering these different bodies of knowledge in one location in an inclusive, flexible, and sustainable manner.