Center for the Study of the Korean War

The Center for the Study of the Korean War is located on the Independence campus of Graceland University, 1401 West Truman Road, Independence, MO 64050-3434. It is just a few blocks from the Truman Presidential Museum and Library. Founded in 1989, this non-profit organization began as the personal library of Dr. Paul Edwards, a scholar and educator on the subject of the Korean War. Eventually, his collection was moved to Graceland University, where it has continued to expand under the auspices of the university. The Center's hours are Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

Mission Statement

To develop insights into the causes and costs of the Korean War and war in general, in order to understand and promote peace.
To identify, collect, preserve, display and make available archives and scholarly works concerning the Korean War.
To acknowledge the contribution of the Korean War veteran, and the significance of the war in American and world history.
To promote scholarly and popular inquiry into the Korean War, why it was fought, and what can be learned about it.

Activities

The Center for the Study of the Korean War sponsors workshops and seminars on various aspects of the Korean War, arranges for veterans to speak at Tell America school programs, offers graduate classes on the Korean War to area universities, and makes its resources available to scholars and researchers.

Center Resources

The following are included in the Center's vast educational resources about the Korean War:

• library holdings of more than 1500 books and articles about the Korean War
• veteran's memoirs (brief and extensive)
• monographs about the war
• a collection of CDs
• periodicals
• limited number of artifacts, including medals and patches
• over 10,000 still black and white photographs taken in Korea
• several hundred slides of Korea and Japan
• commercial movies made about the Korean War
• 8mm movies taken in Korea
• paintings and reproductions
• letters from and to individuals serving in Korea during the war
• official government letters and documents
• diaries and journals kept by veterans of the Korean War
• taped oral interviews with veterans
• maps (flight, sectional, observer, target)
• posters
• wartime propaganda materials
• more

In-house Publications

Dr. Paul Edwards has authored and edited numerous books on the subject of the Korean War. They include:

• The Korean War: A Historical Dictionary (London: Scarecrow Press) 2003
• To Acknowledge a War: Remembering Korea (CN: Greenwood Press) 2000
• The Korean War: A Documentary History (FL: Kendall Press) 1999
• The Korean War: An Annotated Bibliography (CN: Greenwood Press) 1998
• A Guide to Films of the Korean War (CN: Greenwood Press) 1997
• The Hermit Kingdom: Poems of the Korean War (Iowa: Kendall Hunt) 1995
• The Inchon Landing: Korea 1950 (CN: Greenwood Press) 1994
• The Pusan Perimeter, Korea 1950 (CN: Greenwood Press) 1993
• General Matthew B. Ridgway: An Annotated Bibliography (CN: Greenwood Press) 1993

Contact information

Harry S. Truman Library
500 W. U.S. Highway 24
Independence, Missouri 64050-1798
1-800-833-1225
816-268-8200
FAX (816) 268-8296;
e-mail: [Please enable JavaScript.]

About Paul M. Edwards

Center founder Paul M. Edwards earned a doctorate from St. Andrew University in Scotland. He is the author of numerous non-fiction, ranging from philosophy to the Korean War, and has the following credentials in the field of education:

Past director of the RLDS Temple School in Independence, Missouri
Professor of philosophy at Park University in Kansas City
Vice president of Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa
President of the John Whitmer Historical Association
President of the Mormon History Association
Director of Graceland's Center for the Study of the Korean War