NAS is responsible for the acquisition and management of the nation's public records of national importance. To fill gaps, records are acquired selectively from various sources including local and overseas organisations and individuals. Our recent acquisitions include those listed below.

Acquisitions in Year 2010

Overseas Acquisitions

• United Kingdom
  
  1,535 file records were acquired from The National Archives, Kew. These records comprised mainly files from the departments of the Air Ministry (AIR), Board of Trade (BT), British Council (BW), Cabinet Office (CAB), Colonial Office (CO), Crown Agents for Overseas Government (CAOG), Dominions Office (DO), Foreign Office (FO), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Government Communications Headquarters (HW), Ministry of Defence (DEFE), Prime Minister’s Office (PREM), Security Service (KV), Special Operations Executive (HS), and Treasury (T).
  
  These records cover the 1940s to 1970s on Singapore’s political relations, foreign relations and policies, five power defence arrangements, minutes and papers of the Defence and Oversea Policy Committee, registered files of the War Office dealing with all aspects of the administration of the departments and the armed forces in particular those concerning forces and conditions of service in Singapore and Federation of Malaya, prisoners of war and internees in the Far East, ALFSEA reports on defence plans for Cocos Islands, shipping requirements, intelligence administration reports etc; files of the Economic General Department covering a broad range of colonial economic policy, including commerce, finance, industrial development, the supply and production of food and commodities, tariffs and taxation policy including import requirements of food supplies to Malaya and Singapore; files of the Defence Secretariat covering visits of Singapore’s Defence Minister overseas, defence of and situation in Malaya; defence expenditure and future policy in the Far East etc.
  
  Of particular interest are the files from the Special Operations Executive (HS) and Security Service (KV) which cover Japanese intelligence activity in the late 1930s and 1940s, History of the Special Operations Executive Oriental Mission, 1941-1945, Clandestine Air Operations in South East Asia in 1944.
  
  
  
• Australia
  
  A total of 429 archival material was acquired from Australian archival institutions and libraries, in particular The National Archives of Australia (NAA) and National Library of Australia (NLA). Of these, 208 were records and 221 are images. The records from the NAA are mainly from the A1838 series (Department of External Affairs), A1945, A1608, A2671 (Commonwealth records series), A471 (court martial proceedings records series), A5954 (Department of Defence series), MP742 (war crimes series) cover period from 1940s to 1970s on internal security in Singapore, internal assessments and situation of subversion and counter-subversion activities, Four Power Group and conference on communist information activities in Southeast Asia, Australia’s commercial relations with British territories in SEA, namely Singapore and Malaya; war crimes on Blakang Mati island, proposed quadripartite talks arising from the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, employment of Australian Army Personnel in internal security for Singapore, Australian strategy in relation to communist expansion in the Pacific, SEA and the Far East during the cold war period etc.
  
  72 images from NLA and 149 images from NAA. The images from NAA are mainly on visit by PM Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs Lee to Australia in 1965, visit by Defence Minister, Dr Goh Keng Swee and Dr Yeo Ning Hong to Australia in 1967 and 1994 respectively, Singapore-Australian Food Fortnight in 1967, students from Singapore and Malaya studying or working in Australia. From NLA, the images are mainly photographs of drawings of life of POWs in Changi and Selarang Camp, Singapore scenes in early 1900s, and Australian manufacturing industries in Singapore in 1980s, Clunies-Ross family photographs in Cocos Island etc.
  
  
  
• New Zealand
  
  The records acquired from New Zealand are from New Zealand Archives and New Zealand Defence Force Archives. They comprise 9 record files from NZ Defence Force comprising mainly journals of the First Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment in Singapore from 1972 – 1984; 10 records were acquired from NZ Archives and they comprise Singapore Review 1978, file titled "Into the Sun History" by CG Tompson Warkworth, also 8 files on various topics ranging from education, correspondences on Singapore plant health unit, NZ involvement in training exercise etc and they cover period from 1969-1990.
  
  
  
• Italy
  
  8 records from the Vatican Secret Archives from 1586 to 1960 relating to priests appointed to Malacca church, Christianity in Malacca, correspondence concerning Malacca diocese and envoys sent by Portugal. The records are in Latin and Portuguese.
  
  8 records from Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide from 1628 to 1881 relating to task of inquisition assigned to the prelate of Malacca, transfer of Bishop of Beijing to Malacca, letter of the apostolic vicar in western Siam on the double jurisdiction discussed in the synod of Singapore etc. The records are in Latin and French.
  
  

Audiovisual Recordings

• 15 film reels and 4 audio recordings on courtesy campaigns held between 1981 and 1987 from the Singapore Kindness Movement
  
  
• 5 film reels from HDB relating to their function in housing the nation
  
  
• 21 music albums/videos by veteran singers Ling Xiao (凌霄) and You Li (尤丽) (1970s – 2009) and musical comedies by Wang Sha (王沙), Ye Feng (野峰) and Guan Xin Yi (关新艺) (1970s - 80s)
  

Oral History Recordings

• A total of 74 oral history recordings on a variety of subject matters were acquired from the Imperial War Museum (IWM), National Library of Australia (NLA) and Australian War Memorial (AWM).
  
  
• To view the complete list of interviews, please click here.

Others

• Yusof Ishak Collection comprising 19 albums of photographs donated by Puan Noor Aishah, widow of the late President Yusof Ishak. These photographs are official photographs taken by then Ministry of Culture at various official events graced by the late President in the 1950s – 1970.