NLB Celebrates 30 Years of Collecting and Preserving Singapore Treasures with its Donors, and will Launch New Permanent Exhibition

Donations to the National Library and the National Archives of Singapore, the nation’s memory institutions, will help more to discover the richness of the Singapore Story

Singapore, 24 October 2025 – A new book and permanent exhibition on The Albatross File will be launched on 7 December 2025 at the National Library Building, with the exhibition being the SG60 capstone event. Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo announced this in her speech at NLB’s annual Donors Appreciation Night.

The Albatross File

In commemoration of Singapore’s 60 years of independence and NLB’s 30th anniversary, a new book and exhibition on the Albatross File will aim to deepen the public’s understanding of Singapore’s journey to independence. The book, The Albatross File: Inside Separation, features a collection of newly-declassified documents, handwritten notes and Cabinet papers between 1964 and 1965, compiled by Dr Goh Keng Swee in the lead up to Singapore’s independence. The Albatross File was kept with the Prime Minister’s Office until 1996 before it was transferred over to the National Archives of Singapore. Materials from the Albatross File will be made accessible to the public from 7 December 2025 onwards.

The exhibition, The Albatross File: Singapore’s Independence Declassified, the SG60 capstone event, will be launched alongside the book. Jointly presented by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and NLB, the exhibition will showcase original artefacts from the Albatross File, and oral history accounts from Singapore’s founding fathers and individuals involved in the merger and separation. Through a rich multimodal presentation combining documents, visuals, oral histories and interactive displays, visitors will be treated to an immersive and introspective recount of the key events leading up to Singapore’s independence.

Commemorating Documentary Heritage Collection and Preservation

This year’s Donors Appreciation Night also coincided with NLB’s 30th anniversary as a statutory board, and donors from over the past 30 years joined in to mark the milestone. More than 3,300 items were added to the National Library and National Archives of Singapore’s collections through the contributions of 94 donors over the past year.

The event also honoured both new and longstanding donors whose generous contributions over the decades have been instrumental in enriching Singapore’s collective memory. Some highlights of donated materials include:

  1. Manuscripts of Shakespeare’s works translated from English to Tamil by renowned Tamil literary pioneer and Cultural Medallion recipient P. Krishnan
  2. Song lyrics, musical notation and choreography notes by celebrated singer and actress, and Cultural Medallion recipient Nona Asiah
  3. Air-dropped propaganda leaflets from the Second World War and Malayan Emergency by Dr Benjamin Seet
  4. Photographs and music scores from beloved and talented guitar Maestro and Cultural Medallion recipient Alex Abisheganaden
  5. Publications and sketchbooks by Rene Tan, founder of Singapore-based architecture firm RT+Q Architects

NLB’s Chief Executive Officer Ng Cher Pong said: "We are grateful to our donors for entrusting their invaluable items with NLB over the last three decades. These have enriched our collective understanding of the Singapore Story. We look forward to furthering our role as Singapore’s key memory institutions, and to inspire more Singapore Storytellers in the coming years. We will be exploring more ways to enhance access to our archives and resources through new programmes, services, so as to create more opportunities for everyone to discover the richness of our nation’s heritage and identity.”

As NLB celebrates three decades of making knowledge, learning, and heritage accessible to Singaporeans, more channels have been opened up for donors to co-create the next chapter of Singapore’s story. Donation of materials can be made directly to the NL, or via the following channels:

  1. The Singapore Online Arts Repository (SOAR), an ongoing collaboration between the National Arts Council and NLB, which is now in its final year and has seen close to 20,000 materials donated;
  2. The Singapore Architecture Collection (SAC), a collaboration led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and partnering NLB, the National Heritage Board and the National University of Singapore;
  3. Singapore Memories: Documenting Our Stories Together, an expansion of the Citizen Archivist project by the NAS, where members of the public help to describe photographs, and transcribe and translate record labels and oral history recordings.

Patrons may access NL and NAS’s collections via the following online platforms:

  1. National Library Online: https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/nlonline
  2. Archives Online: https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/

Please refer to Annex for details and photos of several key donations received from April 2024 to March 2025, which were on display at the Donors Appreciation Night.

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About NLB

NLB nurtures Readers for Life, Learning Communities and a Knowledgeable Nation by promoting reading, learning and history through its network of 28 libraries, the National Library and the National Archives of Singapore. NLB also forges strategic partnerships that encourage awareness, appreciation and greater discovery of Singapore's history through its rich collections in Singapore and the region.

NLB achieves excellence through innovation, focusing on citizen engagement and co-creation, resource and digital innovation. This creates learning opportunities, greater access to library resources, services, and archival collections, as well as a continual development of innovative library spaces. Established on 1 September 1995 as a statutory board, NLB is under the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI).

For more information, please visit the NLB website, and NLB’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube channels.

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