1900s & earlier
ANCESTORS' BOOK
"These three brothers were my ancestors from Zhaoqing, China. They planned all the middle names for their 14 generations and comes in like a poem. This book is from 1627 and has been handed down throughout the generations. My late older brother passed it to me. I intended to pass to my two nephews but the new generation is disinterested. I will end up passing it to my niece who is interested. In the book, it talks about their children and their children’s spouses such as how many children, their relations, etc.” – Mr Chew, 80 
AERATED WATER BOTTLE
“I found this bottle at Novena Church in December 2014 which is undergoing a rebuilding, while walking around to take photos. The glass imprint on the bottle, Singapore and Straits Aerated Water Company is the name of the company which was formed in 1883 by John Fraser and David Chalmers Neave. It was originally a printing business but diversified to aerated water. In 1898, a new public company was formed and it was named Fraser & Neave (F&N). I decided to pick it up and keep it in the archives. Sadly the top is broken." – Jerome Pang, 54 |
TITLE DEEDS
"These are the title deeds for my grandfather's first shop at 15 Merchant Road (today, it is the road leading to the tunnel) dated 1906. As it is the first shop owned by grandfather, I decided to keep these deeds." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 |
PERANAKAN FURNITURE
“The ornate cupboard (at the top) has three-tiered shelves with a drawer below it. On the right side is the mirror and inside is for hanging clothes. There is also a drawer below it. The original owner was my late grandfather Chan Hai Sing, who was selling mirrors and glassware at Change Alley. He had three wives – he was not a Casanova as the other two wives were gained due to the first wife’s encouragement. My father passed on 12 years ago, while my mother died last October. A year before she died, my mother sold a lot of the Peranakan items including a bench. However, she gave my siblings and me some of the items including the furniture and portraits of both my grandmother and grandfather as they were in local attire of that period and were framed in Victorian glasses. We decided to keep them out of the love for our grandpa and for their beauty and the rich Peranakan culture. Whenever I looked at the Peranakan items, I can proudly tell my friends that we were here long before Sir Raffles Stamford landed on the island! The three pieces of furniture are more than 120 years old. But with much reluctance, I have to part with them as I am moving to a smaller apartment.” – Peter ChAn, 67 |