MRL collection on the Korean independence outbreak, circa 1919 -- 1920

Commonly referred to as the Samil Movement (literally "three one") for its historical date on March 1, 1919, the Korean Independence Movement was one of the earliest and most significant displays of nonviolent demonstration against repressive Japanese imperial power in Korea. On that historical date, thirty-three Korean religious leaders came together to sign a "Proclamation of Independence," which they read that day before a large crowd in Seoul. Men, women, and children led by a group of young students, most of whom were Christian, peacefully protested at Pagoda Park in Seoul, displaying national unity against Japanese forces in their country. Armed with no weapons of any kind, the protestors chanted in unison "mansei" ("long live Korea"), voicing their hope for Korea to be freed from foreign occupation marked by severe hostility and oppression. The movement spread quickly to surrounding cities and towns, resulting in more than 1,500 demonstrations within the following year, with nearly 2 million people in total participating in the independence movement. In their efforts to end the movement, the Japanese committed brutal atrocities against the peaceful Korean demonstrators, injuring even women and children and murdering innocent victims. Records indicate the Japanese police killed about 7,500 Koreans, wounded nearly 16,000, and arrested 45,000. The Japanese continued their policy of massacre in order to prevent further outbreaks of protest. Any Korean participating in the independence resistance was imprisoned and branded as a criminal. All thirty-three signers of the Declaration of Korean Independence were placed on trial, including forty-eight others who helped organize the independence movement. Since 1949, March 1st has been celebrated as a national holiday.

The Missionary Research Library was created by John R. Mott in 1914 after the World Missionary Conference, held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910. It was created in order to be both a resource for missionaries, and a means to document the missionary movement. With funding from John D. Rockefeller, Mott stated, "We are now ready to…secure the most complete and serviceable missionary library and archives in the world. I desire it to be thoroughly interdenominational, ecumenical and international. It should be made preeminently rich in source material." It was located at the Madison Avenue headquarters of the Foreign Missionary Conference of North America. By the 1920s, funding was becoming scarce; therefore it was moved to the Brown Tower of the Union Theological Seminary, New York City in 1929. The Library was an important center of information and research. Active missionaries would consult the material of the Missionary Research Library while on furlough. Much of the Library's success was due to the director and librarian, Charles H. Fahs. Upon his retirement in 1948, the MRL's financial difficulties continued until it was integrated with the Burke Library's collections in 1976. In 2004, the Burke Library was fully integrated with the Columbia University Library system.