The Korean War & Military Brides Project
Documenting the lives of Korean women who married American servicemen during and after the Korean War — in their own voices, and through the records they left behind.
What this project is about
Between 1950 and the decades that followed, tens of thousands of Korean women emigrated to the United States as the wives of American servicemen. They arrived into unfamiliar towns, often as the only Korean person for miles, and built families, businesses, and communities that reshaped Korean America.
Their stories are rarely written down. This project sets out to record them directly — long-form interviews with the women themselves and with their children and grandchildren — and to gather the photographs, letters, and documents that sit in family albums rather than institutional archives.
Replace this text with your own framing: why you started, what questions you are asking, and what you hope the collection becomes.
Do you have a story to share?
If you are a Korean war bride, a descendant, or you hold family materials from this period, the project would like to hear from you.