Primary Resources for Singapore Studies: Colonial Office Records - Conducted by Han Ming Guang & Gandhi
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Primary Resources for Singapore Studies: Colonial Office Records Conducted by Han Ming Guang & Gandhi
NUS LIBRARIES’ LIBGUIDE
http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/sgprimarysources
2
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS j.mp/RU_ABOUT CONTACT US askalib@nus.edu.sg
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WHAT WE WILL BE LOOKING AT TODAY…
1. Timeline of Singapore History
2. Important Guides for Colonial Office Records
3. What are Colonial Office Records and what are the different
types
4. How do I search for CO Records?
5. Using the CO records
6. WO/DO/ADM records
7. Useful contacts and links
5
TIMELINE OF SINGAPORE
HISTORY
6
TIMELINE OF SINGAPORE HISTORY
IMPORTANT!
• You need to be clear on the timeline of Singapore History and the
different administration in charge
• Government records from different administration have different
names and are stored in a different manner
• Key years and dates are important!
7IMPORTANT GUIDES FOR
COLONIAL RECORDS
81ST GUIDE FOR COLONIAL OFFICE
RECORD SOURCES
• A Sense of History
• Compiled by the Library in 1998
• Contains bibliographic information for both Primary and
Secondary sources for Singapore
92 ND GUIDE– KRATOSKA INDEX
Index to Colonial Office files pertaining to British Malaya. 12 vols.
Covers CO 273, CO 717, CO953, CO 1022, CO 1030…
Compiler, Paul H. Kratoska.
Call no. Z3261 Kra.
Kratoska’s Index
Located at the
Information Desk Level 5
103 RD GUIDE – NUS LIBRARY GUIDES
Library guides compiled by NUS Librarians on the resources that
NUS Library has
http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/history
History Resource Library Guide
http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/sgprimarysources
Singapore Primary Sources Library Guide
1112
13
WHAT ARE COLONIAL OFFICE
RECORDS AND WHAT ARE THE
DIFFERENT TYPES? 14COLONIAL OFFICE RECORDS
• Starts from 1867 to 1965 when the Straits Settlement
became a British Crown Colony
• Prior to that it was governed from India
• 6 main series, but other CO series available
• Documents from Straits Settlement were sent from here to
Whitehall (London) and archived there
• We have some in Microfilm, some in E-Copy
15HOW ABOUT THE COLONIAL RECORDS
PRE-1867?
For records before 1867, you will be looking at the:
1. Straits Settlement Records (1800-1867)
2. Records of the Government of India
3. East India Company and India Office Records
(1819-1867)
16Documents from the British Colonial, Dominion, & Foreign Offices
2. Sessional Papers & Departmental
Reports (CO275/CO940)
3. Government Gazettes (CO276/CO932)
Series Type 1. Original Correspondences (CO273/CO1022) 4. Acts/Ordinances (CO274/CO975)
5. Miscellanea (Statistics) (CO277/CO939)
6. Annual Colonial Report
UK National Archives Discovery Catalogue
(Post 1926. File title search mainly.)
Catalogues, None online
Finding Aids, & Kratoska’s Index to Colonial Office Files for British
Use year, contents/index page, or browse to
Indexes navigate full-text
Malaya
Comprehensive index for selected CO Original Correspondence
series covering British Malaya
• Check FindMore/LINC using Series
• Check FindMore/LINC using Series no. (e.g. CO273)
no.
• NUSL holdings of Original Correspondence series
Full-Text • NUSL holdings of Govt Gazettes,
(British Malaya)
in NUS Libraries Sessional Papers, Dept Reports,
• Selected DO & FO files covering South Asia, China,
Acts, Statistics, Annual Reports
& Japan
series for Malaya
Full-Text in
Check also Archives Online for series not in NUS Some duplicates available at NAS
National Archives Libraries Archives Online
of Singapore
17CO 273/CO 1022: ORIGINAL
CORRESPONDENCES
• CO 273 – 1838 to 1946
• CO 1022 – 1950 to 1960
• Original Correspondence from Straits
Settlement/Singapore/SEA back to Whitehall
• Contains letters/memos/telegrams of almost everything under
the sun
• Often haphazardly archived!
18CO 275/ CO 940 : SESSIONAL PAPERS
AND DEPARTMENT REPORTS
• CO 275 – 1850ish to 1946
• CO 940 – 1946 to 1965
• Contains Legislative Assembly Sessional papers
• Contains annual reports by the various government
departments
• Organized by year – not as haphazard
19OTHER CO RECORDS
• CO 276/ CO 932: Government Gazettes – Government ‘newsletter”
• CO 274/ CO 975: Acts and Ordinances – Laws enacted
• CO 277/ CO 939: Blue Book of Statistics – Stats and more stats
• CO 953 – Original Singapore Correspondence but only from 1936 to
1951 (moved to CO 1022)
• FO 1091 - File of the Office of the Commissioner General for the United
Kingdom of Southeast Asia, 1955-1962 (NAS)
• Others – See the Guides
20HOW DO I SEARCH FOR CO
RECORDS?
21HOW DO I SEARCH FOR THEM?
• Use the Library Guide
• Use the LINC or Library Portal to search for the CO
records by the Series Name
• However for the Original Correspondences series (CO
273/ CO 1022) things are not that simple…
22HOW ARE ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN UK
NATIONAL ARCHIVES FILES?
23HOW ARE CO 273/ CO 1022 – ORIGINAL
CORRESPONDENCES ARRANGED?
EG:
CO 273/547/2 – Children Ordinance 1927
CO – Colonial Office Series
Represents which Org Number Volume/File
the file comes from Number
Item number Item title
24IMPORTANCE OF KRATOSKA INDEX FOR
CERTAIN CO FILES
• CO 273/ CO 1022 has a lot of files. No real way of
knowing what is there unless you access it file by file
• Kratoska Index attempts to fix this by indexing these Original
Correspondence file
25KRATOSKA INDEX
Comprises of 2 sections:
File List:
It list sequentially the different items in a volume
Useful for finding out where the item is at in volume as not everything is
sequentially archived
Index:
Basically it is like a book index
Uses keyword to search
Useful if you want to know if you can find the things you want in them
26FINDING AID: KRATOSKA INDEX
27FINDING AID: KRATOSKA INDEX
Take note of title and ref. code
Go to Library portal : www.lib.nus.edu.sg
Search for series no. (e.g. CO 273 )
28FINDING AID: KRATOSKA INDEX
29FINDING AID: KRATOSKA INDEX
30FINDING AID: KRATOSKA INDEX
31FIND THESE DOCUMENTS AND DOCUMENT
NUMBER…
• Volume 2 – Alleged Abuse of Madras Coolies
• Volume 3 – Opening of New Library and Musuem
• Volume 4 – Rubber Cultivation
• Volume 6- Amended Chandu Farm Rules 1906
• Volume 7 – Opium and Liquor Monopoly
• Volume 8 – Repatriation of Chinese Prisoners at Singapore
32Think about how you would
use the Kratoska Index while
TRY USING IT ON YOUR OWN! searching, when would you
use the file list when would
you use the index
33USING THE CO RECORDS
34SOME POINTERS TO NOTE
• The CO Records were written by Colonial Civil Servants
for the Colonial Office – What are the implications?
• Read the files in context of the time period!
• The file cover of each file often has a list of Colonial
Officers who received & read the file. Some even wrote
memos – would they be useful?
• Often have to use the file list & index to search
• To cite – Use the series of numbers to cite
35WO/ADM RECORDS
36WO/DO/ADM RECORDS
37WO/DO/ADM RECORDS
• We do not have much in our collection
• Most of them are in microfilm and have not been
digitized
• The records that we have mostly deals with the
construction of bases before the war
38USEFUL CONTACTS AND LINKS
39USEFUL CONTACTS
Han Ming Guang – hanmingguang@nus.edu.sg
Herman - herman@nus.edu.sg
Tim Yap Fuan - timyf@nus.edu.sg
Winnifred – winnifred@nus.edu.sg
Gandhi – clbgd@nus.edu.sg
Diyana – clbndak@nus.edu.sg
40USEFUL LINKS
• A Sense of History - http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/bib/sh/
• History Library Guide – http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/history
• Singapore Primary Sources Guide –
http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/sgprimarysources
• Borrowing Microfilms - http://libfaq.nus.edu.sg/faq/71544
• Scanning Microfilms - http://libfaq.nus.edu.sg/faq/71573
• Printing Microfilms - http://libfaq.nus.edu.sg/faq/71545
• UK National Archives - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
412
Days of catalytic learning,
Prof Robert Kamei
Duke-NUS
Medical School, Associate
Provost (Education)
discovery & exchange
20
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Prof Richard Ebstein
Department of Psychology
from the research & 25 & 26 September 2018
publishing community LT6, Kent Ridge Campus
Book your seats @ j.mp/RUSym
300
Expected attendees from
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Vice Dean
(Graduate Programmes), Faculty
of Engineering
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