The National Archives of Singapore(NAS) is first established in 1968 and was first known as the National Archives and Records Centre (NARC). It is located at somewhere near to the Fort Canning Park.
The NAS houses the collective memory of our nation.It showcases information and memories of Singapore from then to present allowing future and younger generations to explore our heritage and appreciate our nation.
The history of Singapore is stored there for education purposes so as let the younger generation understand, experience and learn more about Singapore through history, culture and process of building up the nation through the times.
During the field trip, we firstly went into the Archives Services which manages our archival holdings. Over there they store records of national and historical significance which is open to the public in case they want to use the information for their research or just out of curiousity.
We visited the Archives Conservation Lab which conserves and preserves paper documents which have deteriorated due to time, physical wear and tear, or insect and fungal infestation. We also were shown the process and method of preserving those paper documents.
We also went into the Image Preservation Lab which reformats images of fragile paper records onto microfilm and digital media for effective long-term storage. We were able to watch the workers in action as they scanned documents into the computer.
Our next stop is the Audio-Visual Archives and Exhibition. There, they capture and preserve moving images and recorded sound heritage of Singapore. We were shown the different type of tools used for audio and visual recordings.
Overall, I find the trip interesting and I have learnt alot more about the history of media and how they progress to what it is now.
