Relief Administration of the Jeolla Provincial Office as Seen through the Wanyeong ilrok

This study examines famine relief administration in the Jeolla Provincial Office during the early nineteenth century, focusing on the Wanyeong ilrok (Official Diaries of the Provincial Office) compiled by Governor Seo Yu-gu in 1833-1834. Within the late Joseon administrative framework of “provincial office-local county,” the provincial office functioned as the central institution of relief administration, identifying local disaster conditions, implementing tax remissions, and directing the distribution of relief resources.<br/> During this period, the office not only apportioned relief grain differentially according to the conditions of each county but also facilitated the transfer of grain to support relief efforts in other provinces. Furthermore, by adjusting hwan’gok (revolving granaries) and jinja (public relief funds) within the province, the office enabled the distribution of relief grain to tens of thousands of famine-stricken people across Jeolla.<br/> The relief cases recorded in the Wanyeong ilrok demonstrate that famine relief administration continued to operate on a routine basis even amid the decline in reserve grain caused by the fiscalization and lax management of hwan’gok in the early nineteenth century. In this context, relief activities in Jeolla were carried out under the initiative of provincial officials, supplemented by the participation of local communities. This study thus seeks to reexamine the realities of early nineteenth-century relief policy from the vantage point of the provincial office.