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| The Korean Braille textbook created by the American missionary Rosetta Sherwood Hall in 1897 / Courtesy of CHA |
By Park Han-sol
Rosetta Sherwood Hall (1865-1951), an American medical missionary and educator who first came to Korea in 1890, is known for establishing Korea's first special education school for hearing and visually impaired students in Pyongyang in 1894.
The Hangeul braille textbook that she created three years after the school's founding has been proposed by the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) to be designated as a national cultural asset, the organization announced, Thursday.
Named "Rosetta Hall Hangeul Braille Textbook" after the missionary, it applied the tactile encoding to the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, using a cell pattern that is four dots wide and two dots high ― following the system of New York Point, which Hall learned in her home country.
Its pages are made up of thick, oil-laden hanji paper from the bark of paper mulberry trees, with holes created with needles.
For nearly three decades, the book had been used for teaching the Korean characters to special-needs students in Pyongyang, until Park Du-seong (1888-1963) published the six-dot Braille system called "Hunmaengjeongeum" ― a linguistic play on the title of the iconic 15th century manuscript "Hunminjeongeum," with the word "maeng" meaning "visual impairment" ― in 1926. The artifact currently belongs to the collection of Daegu University's Braille Publishing Museum.
"As a symbolic relic marking the beginning of special education in Korea, the book has significant historical value," CHA stated. After 30 days of gathering feedback, the organization will hold a committee review to make a final decision whether to register the piece as an asset.
In addition to the proposal made regarding the Braille textbook, CHA also announced that it designated four culturally significant objects and places as national assets.
Among them is a series of letters sent by Kim Ji-seop, an independence fighter during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial era, to his family after being imprisoned for throwing grenades into the entrance of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in January 1924.
Another object is the stone pillar standing at the entrance of the army training camp for recruits on Jeju Island founded during the 1950-53 Korean War ― a structure that was already designated as an asset in 2008. CHA explained that along with the main building, the pillar possess a historical significance as an artifact from the war. It also well reflects the regional characteristics of the island as it is made from Jeju's signature black basalt and seashells.
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