Kim Woo-young's Gwanggyo Column A Person Suwon Should Remember: Lee Seung-eon (Part 2)
'An Undesignated National Treasure-Class Human Cultural Asset': Evaluation of His Immense Contributions to Suwon Regional History Research
Poet Im Byung-ho, who was born on April 10, 1945 and passed away on January 20, 2002 at the age of 57, and who worked as a member of the Hwaseong Haenggung Restoration Promotion Committee with Lee Seung-eon, wrote a reminiscent piece titled "Memories of Lee Seung-eon" in Gyeonggi Ilbo, where he served as an editorial board member (October 12, 2010).
Describing Lee Seung-eon as "an obsessive archivist," Im recalled, "Whenever he determined certain materials were necessary, he would contact people or visit them directly until he obtained them, troubling officials and private collectors at institutions that published the materials countless times. Despite being called a 'madman' every time, his appetite for securing materials never ceased."
The materials Lee Seung-eon collected and possessed alone numbered approximately 40,000 items, including late Joseon-era gazetteers, historical documents, official certificates from the Joseon and modern eras, municipal and village records, place name origin collections, epigraphic collections, reports, cultural heritage-related publications, and maps. Poet Im testified, "It is almost unbelievable for one individual to have collected such a vast collection. Moreover, since he was well-versed in nearly all the contents of these materials, he was called a 'walking encyclopedia.'"
He published materials on cultural heritage and historical sites, notable figures and their accomplishments, living culture and natural heritage, and place name origins in Ansan, Uiwang, Siheung, Anyang, and other areas. After relocating to Suwon, he also collected and published a considerable number of Suwon-related materials. He discovered historical records of Suwon from the late Joseon and Japanese colonial periods and issued index collections, presented academic lectures centered on Suwon-related materials such as data on Hwaseong Haenggung, and published papers focused on Suwon materials.
He left a significant mark by correcting Japanese colonial place names, naming school names, supervising elementary school local textbooks, excavating classical texts, discovering and excavating calligraphy, portraits and photographs, authenticating, excavating, and instructing traditional folk games, and consulting on administrative place names and road names.
Dr. Ju Hyeok, who maintained a special close relationship with him, mourned him in the Autumn 2019 issue of "Gyeonggi Learning Plaza" published by the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation's Gyeonggi Studies Center in October 2019, saying, "Although the professor was outside the 'citizenship' commonly accepted in academia, he never departed from the center of local history for a single moment." He then described his life as "compressed through local history research via ingrained 'record-keeping spirit' and 'material collection.'"
His lifetime was consistent. His footprints include serving as standing committee member for the Siheung County Gazetteer, historical materials investigation committee member at the National Institute of Korean History, standing committee member for Gwacheon Local History, board member of the Seoul Historical and Cultural Studies Association, and planning and research department head of the 200th Anniversary Commemoration Committee of Suwon Fortress (Hwaseong) Construction.
Dr. Ju states that he was an "undesignated national treasure-class human cultural asset" who properly dug deep and wide into one well in the fields of material collection and local history.
Lee Seung-eon was not solely devoted to collecting and researching local history materials.
He was also an enthusiastic collector who gathered thousands of items of materials related to daily life, including receipts and vouchers from public institutions, banknotes and coins, tobacco, faded postcards and letters from the 1930s, extras, October Revitalization pamphlets, and inaugural issues of magazines and newspapers (Modern Literature, Sunday Seoul, Hankyoreh Newspaper, etc.).
The year he passed away in 2002 was when the '2002 Korea-Japan World Cup' was held, with the entire nation swept up in excitement.
Coincidentally, the same year, Professor Lee Jong-hak, who played an important role in the Suwon Hwaseong Haenggung Restoration Promotion Committee, also passed away.
Both individuals were people I greatly respected, and they shared the common characteristic of devoting their entire lives to material collection.
Even now, I cannot forget his beaming face and voice as he would say, "Poet Kim, I discovered something like this at the Kyujanggak this time—what do you think? Do you think it would make a good news story?"
For someone who was so full of vitality in everything, when his obituary arrived one day, all those gathered at the mourning hall could only drink innocent soju.
It has already been 24 years since he passed away.
Yet it seems as though he might still call and say, "I'm from Siheung—are you busy this evening? I found some interesting materials and would like to show them to you. Can we meet?"