We Like It Rare

Senior Librarian Ong Eng Chuan looks back at the origins and heyday of the most influential Chinese Club in early 20th-century Singapore.

Discover the miniature gems of the National Library Rare Collection with Senior Librarian Gracie Lee.

Senior Librarian Makeswary Periasamy seeks out the origins and development of Singapore’s Municipal Abattoir at Jalan Besar.

Through resources from the National Library, Janice Loo uncovers the story of an early Japanese photography studio and its proprietors.

Join Mages as she explores the mystery behind a photograph tucked away in a collection of letters written in the early 20th century.

Senior Librarian Gracie Lee looks at air raid shelter plans and Singapore’s precaution measures during the Second World War.

Weddings have always been expensive affairs. This was also the case back in the 1930s, as Gracie Lee finds out from a little blue notebook.

What does a 1913 flyer advertising an air exhibition tell us about aviation history in Singapore? Senior Librarian Eng Chuan finds out…

Find out how this traditional remedy, demonstrated to be effective through scientific assessment, was used to treat leprosy patients.

Uncover the work of naturalist and explorer Carl Bock, who encountered the Dayaks in Borneo despite earlier failed (and fatal) expeditions.

Explore the settlement through the cultural lens and aesthetics of Japanese artists and writers living in the Meiji era.

Retrace the journey taken by a 19th-century book and discover an ingenious printing technology.

Learn more about Chinese surnames and their dialectal variations through a book printed in 1924.

Uncover what life was like in the Dutch East Indies through the eyes of a 17th-century Dutch traveller.