House Treasures - from kampong to the archives of the National Library Board

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Our Bedok kampong house indeed had many treasures, especially when our late father felt the need to keep the documents and belongings of his father and elder sister after they both passed on. Even after we moved from the kampong to our HDB flat, he still kept them. Since his death in 2023, we made the conscious effort to go through these documents to see if they still hold any historical or social impact values. 

To our delight, the National Library Board (NLB) accepted more than 70 items including letters, receipts, documents, photos and books. Recently we attended the NLB Donor's Appreciation Night, graced by Minister Mrs Josephine Teo. 3 sets of his collection were on display. All these 2024 donations are available for viewing and research at the main library's reference section in Victoria Street. We know that our dad would be so proud, given his expressed wish to have these donated but somehow unable to do so in his lifetime. 

Among the artefacts on display was a 1942 Japanese occupation dictionary, two 1919 photos of Singapore Peace Celebration taken by our grandfather, and a circa 1942 document detailing the history of the Bukit Timah Rubber Estates, where the future Turf City MRT station would sit on. All of these artefacts, now the property of the NLB will have their home with them henceforth, well taken care of. We are so glad.












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