Daehancheonil Bank Changnipgwallyeon Documents and Hoegye Documents (set)

The Daehancheonil Bank materials comprise documents relating to the bank's founding and early operations, and accounting documents, including petitions, licences, articles of association, and documents concerning the establishment of branches in Incheon, Busan and elsewhere, all showing the founding process of Daehancheonil Bank, established in 1899. They consist basically of individual documents, bound document files and ledgers, totalling 19 items comprising 75 pieces. Judging from the punch-hole traces remaining on the loose sheets, it appears that they were originally handed down bound within document files and were later separated and managed individually at some point. Daehancheonil Bank was renamed Joseon Commercial Bank in 1911, and through the expansion of its capital, mergers with other banks and the extension of its branch network, it was renamed Korea Commercial Bank after national liberation, then, following the Hanvit Bank period, was renamed Woori Bank, its present name. Much of the Daehancheonil Bank material held by Woori Bank has been lost, but what remains has survived to the present in relatively good condition; these materials can be divided by nature into documents relating to the founding and early operations, and accounting documents. The twelve items of documents relating to the founding of Daehancheonil Bank hold important historical value for the study of the development of modern Korean banks and joint-stock companies, given that almost no documents survive from Joseon Bank and Hanseong Bank, which were established around the same time. The seven accounting documents, moreover, represent the most complete surviving set of Songdo sagae bugi (the Kaesong four-door double-entry bookkeeping method) documents in Korea. Although a considerable number of account books in single-entry form survive, these are merely sanghachaek — books recording only income and expenditure — which limits their usefulness for examining the characteristics of Korea's traditional Songdo four-door bookkeeping. The Daehancheonil Bank materials, by contrast, include the main ledger known as the jeong-ilgi together with subsidiary ledgers from the same accounting period, making them an extremely rare and important resource for the study of the Songdo four-door bookkeeping method. This material therefore clearly shows the founding process and accounting practices of a modern bank established during the Enlightenment period. The accounting-related documents in particular, having been compiled using Songdo sagaechibu, a distinctive form of double-entry bookkeeping devised in Korea, are regarded as important sources for the study of the history of accounting and of the socio-economic history of the late Korean Empire period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산