All training sessions for the ‘2024 Citizen Archive School’ hosted by Pyeongtaek City (Mayor Jeong Jang-seon) have been completed. Training sessions were held at the Yongi-dong Administrative Welfare Center from July 22 to August 27.
Trainees who complete the training will directly conduct records about the ‘disappearing village’ and interview elders of the village.
The Pyeongtaek City Archives’ records management officer, who planned and conducted this training, said that the 2024 Citizen Archives School was “a process of preparing quality human resources who can record and reconstruct spatial history related to village communities, discover the identity of Pyeongtaek City, and foster citizens’ sense of patriotism, while utilizing methodologies for village record collection and management and civic utilization.”
He continued, “Archive education serves as a medium to convey accurate historical data and valuable information through records of community life under the motto that a village is a museum, a library, and an art gallery,” and explained the meaning of this education by saying, “Records are not the responsibility of specific experts, but of the village residents who live through the time and space of the village.”
The 2024 “Citizen Archive School” is a program that records individuals and villages. Education was conducted in a way that asked and answered questions such as, “Why and how should records be made for me and the community?”, “How should interviews of people be conducted for record management?”, “How should photographic records be kept?”, and “What is the difference between an individual’s autobiographical record and an objective record of the community?”
Students who participated in the training said, “Through this training course, I learned about the meaning of photos that we inadvertently deleted, how important it is to record our families and daily lives, and the importance of listening to our neighbors’ stories. Through this course, I learned about the meaning of contributing to the historical records of Pyeongtaek.”
Kim Hye-gyu, director of Pyeongtaek Humanities, who participated as an instructor, emphasized the meaning of the archive as a means of communication and healing, saying, “The village archive also functions as a means of emotional empathy and restoration of relationships between people through materials such as oral interviews that are being conducted in various places as part of the process of recording oneself, family, or those around oneself, or communication and healing.”
Choi Chi-seon, a standing member of the Pyeongtaek Cultural Center’s Pyeongtaek Studies Research Institute, emphasized that the village archives are “a place where collective and individual memories meet, where public and private records meet to record the entire region, and where local residents can actively participate in forming collective memories. Since it is a kind of warehouse of village community memories and records, long-term planning and support must follow for a sustainable Pyeongtaek City.”
The results of this archive education will be published in a book in November, compiled with text and photos based on interviews conducted by the trainees with the village and its residents.
Economy Queen Reporter Hongmi Kim / Photo Pyeongtaek City
.
2024-09-03 23:58:43