National Library Board Singapore

Singapore’s history from 1867 onwards has been well documented. 1867 was the year when Singapore, together with the other Straits Settlement territories of Penang and Melaka, became a British crown colony. What we know about Singapore’s history prior to 1867 depends largely on the textual and visual documents held by libraries and archives. The National Library Board (NLB), through the “On Paper: Singapore Before 1867” exhibit, aimed to provide historians and enthusiasts with information about Singapore’s past events and help us understand the worldviews of their creators.

Rather than focusing entirely on documents held by British institutions, the NLB developed a more comprehensive understanding of Singapore prior to 1867 by including documents from other European and local sources. The exhibit featured over 150 paper-based artefacts, including maps, sketches and documents, and in doing so, the NLB was able to portray a more complex and multi-layered representation of Singapore’s early history. Through carefully preserved records from the collections of the National Library, the National Archives of Singapore and a multitude of overseas institutions, “On Paper: Singapore Before 1867” presented a rare treat to all who are interested in Singapore’s past.

Conservation and Security

For this exhibition, the key responsibility for Trika was to create a series of high-quality display cases that met the extremely stringent conditions required by museum conservators. Most of the artefacts were on loan from prestigious organisations from around the world, and their conservation and security were of the utmost importance. Any damage or loss to any one of these priceless one-of-a-kind historical pieces would have been disastrous.

At The Center of Trika’s Showcase Design

Paper products are highly sensitive to light, temperature fluctuations, ultraviolet, infrared radiation and variations in relative humidity. Even the construction materials used could have an adverse effect on the display case’s environment; therefore, Trika strives to continually develop new methods and discover new materials to reduce the Air Exchange Rate (AER) of a display case as much as possible. Few specialist companies are able to provide an AER rate to meet the strict conservation guidelines established by global preservation industry standards, and Trika is an industry-leader when it comes to the design, production and installation of such display cases.

After meeting with the gallery’s curators and planning rigorous specifications into the production requirements of these bespoke museum showcases, Trika engineered a new case to incorporate many of its patented design and product features. One such custom-designed feature was the inclusion of a special ventilator-assisted route to maximise the delivery of silica gel media (hygroscopic substances that absorb moisture) into the display chamber. This feature is highly controlled due to the small volume of air that must be managed and the narrow range of humidity that must be maintained.

A Fundamental Aspect of Showcase Design and Integration

The security specifications of a showcase depend on the value and class of the exhibits on display. Needless to say, the value of the NLB’s gallery of pre-1867 maps, drawings, paintings and documents were literally priceless. Only the most secure of display cases could be used to house such artefacts. The curators were highly detailed about the specifications needed with regards to security. Trika needed to design and produce an extremely secure showcase to meet these requirements. We engineered the new cases to incorporate 11.5mm laminated manual attack resistant glass, which is necessary to meet current BS5544 / EN356 regulations (anti-bandit glass). Laminated glass can offer a higher level of security compared to a single toughened or float glass panel. Trika also included its patented two-step, three-point locking system that fully integrates a dual-bolt mechanical latch with a high-security Abloy lock.

With the increased conservation and security standards of Trika’s custom designed display showcases, the National Library Board secures important artefact loans from several foreign institutions. In order to provide the NLB with information necessary to secure those loaned items, we submitted our showcases for stringent material and airtightness testing. Our conservation test results fulfilled the necessary specifications required for authentication by Singapore’s National Heritage Board and the Heritage Conservation Centre.