In Memoriam: Dr. Homer Hulbert

It figures that my first post would be from Korea, where all the directions are written in Korean on a computer with a Korean interface. So yeah, honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Today we went to a memorial service for a man named Dr. Homer Hulbert, and if I were smarter at this, I'd link his name to a web site but I'll have to do this some other time. Essentially, he was an American who served in Korea as a missionary at the turn of the century and ended up the most revered Westerner in Korean history. Dr. Hulbert (1870-sthg. to 1949) was the first person to translate much Korean literature into English, and he also served as a fierce advocate for Korean independence during the era of Japanese colonization. He's the official inspiration for our school. Today's event marked the 58th anniversary of his death.

And I just want to say that if I ever become a national hero, I would like it to be in Korea. This was a tremendously nice ceremony, although it is still extremely hot and humid here. I have to agree with the one English-language speaker, who said that as much we would have liked Dr. Hulbert to remain with us indefinitely, it would have been especially nice if he could have held on another couple of months.

In addition to the speeches in Korean and English, there was a plaque presentation, a flower-placement ceremony in front of a picture of Dr. Hulbert, and music performed by the quite-excellent Seoul Police Band. Selections included the most popular Korean folk song, Arirang, which Dr. Hulbert was the first to transcribe, and the American and Korean national anthems (Justin describes the Korean national anthem as "Schumannesque"). And it wasn't even a particularly prominent anniversary - if they do this for the 58th, I can't imagine what they'll do for the 60th.

The hosts - the Hulbert Memorial Association (or perhaps Trust) - flew in Dr. Hulbert's 80-something granddaughter and great-grandson and my little history major heart sang with joy when they donated some of his papers to the Hulbert Memorial Association here in Korea. Nothing beats keeping sources accessible to researchers. Among the papers were a letter from the emperor asking Dr. Hulbert to watch out for his nephew ("to treat him as [his] own son"), who was studying abroad in the US, a photograph of the Hulbert family in front of a Korean screen, and the letter in which Dr. Hulbert wrote that he would rather be buried in Korea than Westminster Abbey. Personally, I was leaning towards the Taj Mahal, but Dr. Hulbert had one thing right: when you're a national hero, Korea is certainly a very nice place to be dead.