The National Library Singapore’s latest Web series continue to feature rare materials of historic significance from its collection.

 

What do sleepy Sembawang Road shophouses have to do with London’s hot international stock markets? The answer – “ulu” rubber plantations. In the mid-1890s, Henry Ridley, director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, persuaded Chinese merchant Tan Chay Yan to start planting rubber on a commercial scale. This inspired another businessman, Tan Kah Kee, to grow rubber plants along with his pineapples in his estate in Selatar.

Find out more in the latest episode of “From the Stacks” and explore the Seletar Rubber Estates with senior librarian Timothy Pwee through a collection of business documents and letters below.

The National Library is the custodian of Singapore’s published heritage and continually expands and makes accessible its research and resource collection to the public. “From the Stacks” is a Web series featuring rare materials of historical significance from the National Library Singapore’s collection. Catch up on past episodes at https://go.gov.sg/fromthestacks.