Three rare printing blocks from the late Joseon Dynasty that were sold as souvenirs and taken out of Korea in the 1970s have been recovered through donations.
The Korea Heritage Service announced on the 9th that it received three printing blocks of major literary collections from the late Joseon period at the Korean Empire Legation in Washington, D.C. on the 8th (local time). The agency worked with the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation to secure donations from American and Korean-American collectors.
The returned artifacts are printing blocks for "Cheogam Seonsaeng Munjip" (Collection of Master Cheogam), "Songja Daejeon" (Complete Works of Master Song), and "Beonam Jip" (Collection of Beonam)—each consisting of one block.
The donated relics were purchased as souvenirs by Americans working in Korea in the early 1970s and taken to the United States. During that era of lax heritage management, stolen or lost printing blocks were often disguised as souvenirs and sold to foreigners for export overseas. The case provides important clues for understanding the conditions and patterns of cultural heritage outflow in the 1970s and sets a positive precedent as a voluntary donation.
The "Cheogam Seonsaeng Munjip" printing block (carved in 1917) contains the literary collection of Kim Do-hwa, who served as a militia commander in the Andong region during the 1895 Eulmi Righteous Army uprising. According to the Korea Heritage Service, Aaron Gordon, an American working at the Korea office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the early 1970s, purchased the block from a Korean antique dealer and brought it to the United States. After Aaron's death in 2011, his wife Tamra kept it in storage. While inquiring about donating it to the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art in 2025, she was connected to the Foundation's U.S. office, leading to its return.
The "Songja Daejeon" printing block (carved in 1926) compiles the literary works and chronological records of Uam Song Si-yeol, a Confucian scholar from the late Joseon period. First published in 1787, this block was purchased in Korea by Aaron Gordon and given as a gift to his sister Alicia. It was returned together with the "Cheogam Seonsaeng Munjip" block.
The "Beonam Jip" printing block (carved in 1824) contains the literary collection of Beonam Chae Je-gong (1720-1799), a key figure during the reigns of Kings Yeongjo and Jeongjo in the late Joseon period. An American working in Korea in the early 1970s purchased it from an antique dealer and brought it to the United States, later giving it as a gift to the family of Korean-American Kim Eun-hye. The Korea Heritage Service explained that Ms. Kim readily accepted the Foundation's donation proposal and returned the block.