(3 May 2021) In 2013, through the generous support of William and Judith Bollinger, the British Library embarked upon a five-year project, in collaboration with the National Library Board of Singapore, to digitize materials in the British Library of interest to Singapore. The project initially focused on Malay manuscripts, early maps of Singapore, and archival papers of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who had founded a British trading settlement in Singapore in 1819. The project later also encompassed Bugis manuscripts, reflecting the cultural heritage of a distinctive community within the broader Malay population in Singapore, and the small collection of Qur’an manuscripts from Southeast Asia in the British Library. The digitized materials are being made accessible through the websites of both the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts and the National Library of Singapore’s BookSG.
The Malay manuscripts can be accessed here and through BookSG.
The fully illustrated article is posted on the BL Asian and African Studies blog here.
