ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

There have been many studies carried out over the past forty years on Dr. Oh Kung Sun, one of the pioneers of Western medicine in Korea and the first Korean president of Severance Medical School in Seoul. Although these studies are important achievements in examining Oh’s life and work, considering how dramatically his study abroad began and how it became the basis for his contributions to Korea later, there has not been sufficient focus given to his time spent in the United States. This study uses 135 previously unknown letters written by Oh to Dr. Alexander John Aitcheson Alexander(A.J.A. Alexander), his mentor as well as his financial sponsor, and which are now preserved in the Kentucky Historical Society. The letters allow us to learn about Oh’s life in the United States between 1903 and 1907. It is revealed that Oh had been actively engaged in medical studies and had accumulated various clinical experiences, including those from Louisville City Hospital and Indiana State Mental Hospital. Reconstructing Oh’s period of study in the United States both temporally and spatially, which was done in this study, is meaningful. Besides the knowledge and training acquired through schooling, it is fair to say that Christian mission and philanthropic spirit that had been obtained through Alexander proved to be the basis of Dr. Oh Kung Sun’s activities in the service of medical and social welfare in Korea in the 20th century.

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