Dartmouth Events

Among the many known photographs of late dynastic and early colonial Korea two collections based in Los Angeles of photographs of early twentieth century Korea have gained little attention so far: a collection of lantern slides at the Department of Art History of UCLA produced by Burton Holmes (1870-1958), and a thirteen albums of black-and-white photographs taken by Jack London (1876-1916), now at the Huntington Library. Burton Holmes went to Korea in 1901 on one of his many journeys that led him around the world. He entertained large audiences with lantern slide lectures, filling famous venues, such as Carnegie Hall in New York and Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and published his photographs and texts in a book series. Jack London travelled to the peninsula in order to report on the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 for the San Francisco Examiner, a ‘yellow press’ daily owned by William Randolph Hearst. Both, London and Holmes, were enthusiastic photographers and captivating writers, yet the impressions they convey of Korea are quite different. By analyzing their photographs together with their texts, this lecture will explore questions, such as: What do London and Holmes have in common, and what separates them? What was their intention, who their audiences? How much do they tell us about the country?