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“I hasten to beg your indulgence…”: When Declassifying Can Also Mean Decoding
When the National Archives embarked on the declassification initiative to unlock documents previously labelled as “secret” and “confidential” for public access, it also had to decipher what was...
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To Wreck or to Recreate: Giving New Life to Singapore’s Built Heritage
Nearly 70 years have passed since a committee was set up to look into the preservation of buildings and sites with historical value. Lim Tin Seng charts the journey. Historic and nationally significant...
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From the Archives: The Work of Photographer K.F Wong
K.F. Wong shot to international fame with his images of Borneo, though not without controversy. Zhuang Wubin examines Wong’s work and sees beyond their historical value. In 1989, exactly 30 years ago,...
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Doctor, Doctor!: Singapore’s Medical Services
Milestones in Singapore’s medical scene – among other subjects – are captured through fascinating oral history narratives in a new book written by Cheong Suk-Wai and published by the National Archives...
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Groundbreaking: The Origins of Contemporary Art in Singapore
1988 has been held as the watershed year in which Singapore’s contemporary art took root with the establishment of The Artists Village. Jeffrey Say debunks this view, asserting that the contemporary...
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The Story of Two Shipyards: Keppel & Sembawang
Keppel and Sembawang shipyards are major players in Singapore’s maritime and shipping industry. Wee Beng Geok traces the colonial origins of these two companies. Singapore has always been highly prized...
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U.S. Ex. Ex.: An Expedition for the Ages
The Wilkes Expedition – as it is popularly known – vastly expanded the borders of scientific learning. Vidya Schalk explains how this historic American naval mission between 1838 and 1842 is linked to...
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Georgette Chen: Artist Extraordinaire
Sara Siew examines the link between visual art and the written word through the fascinating story of Singaporean artist Georgette Chen. Artists express themselves in a variety of ways. Although art is...
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Don’t Mention the Corpses: The Erasure of Violence in Colonial Writings on...
History may be written by the victors, but what they conveniently leave out can be more telling. Farish Noor reminds us of the violent side of colonial conquest. “All conquest literature seeks to...
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On Writers and Their Manuscripts
No great work of literature is completed in just one draft. In an age where writers have gone paperless, novelist Meira Chand ponders over the value of manuscripts, and what they might reveal about a...
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Dieppe Barracks: “Our Little Kingdom” in Sembawang
Military camps and training areas comprise a significant portion of Singapore’s land use. What can a single camp tell us about Singapore’s geopolitical history? A lot, as it turns out, says Chua Jun...
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Fleeing to uncertainty: My father’s story
Barely 13 years old then, K. Ramakanthan and his family escaped with their lives from Perak to Johor during the Japanese Occupation. Aishwariyaa Ramakanthan recounts her father’s harrowing journey. My...
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The Making of Xin Ke 新客
This 1927 silent Chinese movie is the first feature film to be made in Singapore and Malaya. Jocelyn Lau traces its genesis with researcher Toh Hun Ping and translation editor Lucien Low. Lead actor...
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On Paper: Singapore Before 1867
Paintings by John Turnbull Thomson, poems in Jawi script, an early 19th-century map of Asia and a Russian traveller’s tale of Singapore are some of the paper artefacts featured in the National...
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Navaratri Golu: The Hindu Festival of Dolls
Celebrated by Hindus of South Indian origins, the Golu festival is a lively melange of colourful dolls, womenhood and spirituality. Anasuya Soundararajan shares with us its origins. Every year, dolls...
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Civilians in the crossfire: The Malayan emergency
Ronnie Tan recounts the hardship suffered by civilians as a result of the British government’s fight against the communists during the Malayan Emergency. China-Japan relations, which are marked by a...
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Daguerreotypes to dry plates: Photography in 19th-century Singapore
The oldest known photographs of Singapore were taken by Europeans in the early 1840s. Janice Loo charts the rise of commercial photography in the former British colony. An early camera consisting of a...
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Give me shelter: The five-footway story
The five-footway – the equivalent to the modern-day pavement or sidewalk – was a hotly contested space in colonial Singapore. Fiona Lim relives its colourful history. “Crowded, bustling, layered,...
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Head Count: The History of Census-taking in Singapore
The very first census here was conducted in 1824. Ang Seow Leng reveals how doing a headcount has evolved over the last 200 years. Singapore’s population has grown steadily over the decades to reach a...
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The Istana Turns 150
The resplendent Istana – where colonial governors and modern-day presidents once lived – celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019. Wong Sher Maine recounts key moments in its history. “The building is...
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