In this Comment, I reflect on my experience in doing archival research as an early career historian in the early twenty-first century. I also discuss how the realities of archive access and travelling shaped my research. In particular, I draw upon and further develop the concept of ‘interim archives’, one that I coined with a colleague in an earlier article.Footnote 1 This concept denotes the partial nature of archival sources, especially those which might not be readily accessible to researchers. Here, I seek to expand and connect this concept to ongoing discussions on the digitisation of primary sources, which has generated substantial interest among historians and archivists.Footnote 2
This Comment is not explicitly meant to be a comprehensive survey of archival practice, but one which is rooted in my personal encounters. At the University of Warwick, I work on the financial history of the Straits Settlements between 1900 and 1950. The Straits Settlements were a British crown colony comprising the cosmopolitan port cities of Singapore, Malacca and Penang. My project takes ethnic Chinese banks headquartered in colonial Singapore and Malaya, with branches in China, as its objects of enquiry, and investigates how they contributed actively to the growing economic integration of the region in the first half of the twentieth century. Alongside the elite networks of bankers, entrepreneurs and colonial officials, I am also interested in uncovering the lived experiences of common people who were instrumental as customers and consumers of modern banking and finance. By weaving the diverse stories from above and below, I seek to build an inclusive and novel narrative that explains the evolution of capitalism on the colonial periphery.
As it is for most historians, the archive is pivotal in my work. The centrality of archives is well encapsulated by Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello, who pointed out that they were the ‘second home’ of historians, particularly those working on material culture.Footnote 3 However, in an increasingly digital era, in-person visits to archives appear to be less essential as more primary sources are accessible on the Internet. What does our ‘second home’ look like when digitisation and the material turn send historians in opposing directions? Do physical archives still matter?
In my case, physical archives remain essential as the majority of my primary sources are only accessible onsite. As part of my research, I have visited a dozen institutional archives located across the United Kingdom and several cities in Asia, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong.Footnote 4 These official archives contain reports, memos and letters which are essential for understanding policymaking processes and the complex deliberations among civil servants and bankers. To some extent, they are ‘interim archives’ due to the varying availability and accessibility of records. I focus on the National Archives of Singapore (NAS), which is my primary site for research. In the remainder of the Comment, I will elaborate on my experiences in accessing digitised and physical primary sources at these archives, and discuss how my encounter with these depositories shaped the direction of my research.
Digitised sources on the screen
Digitised sources have become increasingly essential for researchers since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has driven substantial efforts in digitising primary material and making it more accessible to users in an increasingly digitally mediated world.Footnote 5 For example, Seton Hall University and Georgetown University in New Jersey have enhanced their outreach efforts not only by broadening digital access, but also by making their online collections more ‘discoverable’ by sharpening the metadata of their sources.Footnote 6 Efforts like these are certainly welcome for researchers who can access these collections at any time and place with a reliable internet connection.
A substantial amount of my research takes place in Singapore, as the city-state was the capital city of the Straits Settlements and host to the headquarters of major Asian financial institutions such as the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation. Since 2012, the NAS has been expanding its digital offerings to the public (see Figure 1).Footnote 7 It receives funding from the Singapore Government not only to enhance public access to records but also to create a more conducive space to do research.Footnote 8 The Government allocated more than 20 million Singapore dollars to revamping the NAS, which opened its doors in 2019.Footnote 9 Alongside newer machines and microfilm readers, the new premises are also more accessible to disabled visitors with levelled floors and lifts.Footnote 10
Photo of NAS. Photo taken by the author in March 2024.
During the initial phases of COVID-19 in 2020, I was writing my Master’s thesis on the first ethnic Chinese bank that was established in Singapore.Footnote 11 The ‘circuit breaker’ (as we called it in Singapore) meant that the NAS was closed. I had to shift my research focus from archival sources to digitised primary sources that were freely available online. I consulted a range of Singapore and Malayan newspapers on ‘NewspaperSG’,Footnote 12 a database operated by the National Library of Singapore, as well as the broadsheets that are available on the webpage of the National University of Singapore’s Chinese Library.Footnote 13 Reading these broadsheets in English and Chinese reinforced my awareness and appreciation of how early banking and finance were closely embedded within the daily lives of elites and non-elites in the Straits Settlements.
Even some digital files, however, require a physical visit to the NAS as not all holdings are publicly available online, which is the case with other archives that I have visited in Asia and the United Kingdom. In most cases, researchers are allowed to view files in PDF format, using one of the desktops shown in Figure 2. In general, NAS does not provide records in their ‘original format’ for public consultation due to storage and preservation priorities.Footnote 14 Similarly, in-person visits are also highly recommended for the Library of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, which holds vast collections pertaining to Southeast Asia, and manages the private paper collection of prominent individuals in Singapore and Malaysia.Footnote 15
The Reading Room of NAS. Photo taken by the author in November 2024.
Like its institutional counterparts elsewhere, the NAS acts as both a custodian and a gatekeeper, making practical considerations for access quite pertinent. For NAS, it is vital to request files early as it may take ‘upwards of 12 weeks’ for processing and clearance by the government agency overseeing the record requested.Footnote 16 This usually takes longer as officials who are doing the review have to do so as they perform their main responsibilities.Footnote 17 In most cases, requests to access files in governmental collections take longer than others, such as Straits Settlements, overseas and private records, which only require a couple of working days.
There is a silver lining to this process. In some cases, after careful review of my request, files were made available by NAS on its database for public access. In most instances, however, I received permission to view the government records that I requested, with only a small number of my requests being unsuccessful. For approved files, I viewed them either through ‘open terminals’ (where photo-taking was allowed) or ‘closed terminals’ (where photo-taking and reproduction were not allowed), depending on the instructions I received from the archives. The criteria determining whether material would be accessible on a ‘closed’ or ‘open’ terminal remains unclear. The resulting uncertainty is certainly daunting for researchers, even more so for early career historians like me. As I was allowed to read company and bank records on the ‘closed terminals’, I had to spend more time in the reading room taking down notes and corporate data, including annual balance sheets, shareholding lists and reports, on my personal computer. Archival realities, then, directly changed my research, requiring more and longer trips from the UK to Singapore than anticipated.
Digital records, therefore, do not always translate into easier accessibility. As Gerben Zaagsma has noted, even when records are available online there may still be obstacles to access, especially for those in the Global South.Footnote 18 In some cases, potentially useful digitised texts remain ‘hidden’ due to the low quality of optical character recognition, which reduces their discoverability on search portals.Footnote 19 Another issue lies with materiality, as researchers lose access to the physical copies of documents and records. In their study on early modern wills, Harry Smith and Emily Vane found that digital version replicated the content, but not the materiality of original wills. Essential information regarding literacy and authorship were lost.Footnote 20 I have a similar experience, as crucial details such as signatures, coloured seals, stamps, and cursive handwriting in English and Chinese, are less visible on the screen as compared to paper.
Materiality and location matters
It is this preference for consulting primary sources in their physical form, coupled with the archival realities in Singapore, that led me to explore archives beyond Singapore. Financial records from London and the former British colonies of Hong Kong and the Malay States have made it possible for me to trace economic, financial and social connections within the British empire. In-person visits are necessary to access not only physical records, but also source indexes and guides as online search portals may not list the entirety of the holdings of an archive. For example, approximately 8 per cent of the material held by The National Archives at Kew was made available on its online catalogue in 2023.Footnote 21
My experience at Kew and other institutional archives in London, Hong Kong SAR and Malaysia has been broadly positive. At Hong Kong’s Public Record Office (PRO), researchers can submit file requests between one working day and one month in advance.Footnote 22 During my visit in July 2024, there were instances when I managed to view files within one hour after making the request. Similarly, I requested and viewed files on the same day in Arkib Negara Malaysia (ANM, National Archives of Malaysia). Likewise for Kew, researchers can order files and gain access to them on the same day, even though a minimum of four working days are needed to book a visit.Footnote 23 More time may be needed to book a visit to the HSBC Archives and Bank of England Archives as they have limited seating spaces.
Like most historians, I find encountering primary material in physical form exciting. I am curious about the content, materiality and provenance of the sources that I come across. I fully relate to Emily Robinson’s description of archival research as an affective experience.Footnote 24 The joy of uncovering unexpected pieces of physical evidence and the thrill of chasing a paper trail will be familiar to many. These emotional and sensory reactions, according to Carolyn Steedman, play a central role in interpreting the past, a process that is not merely rational, but deeply personal.Footnote 25 The experience of touching historical sources and artefacts enabled me to develop a tangible connection to history. In many instances, this sensory interaction sparked my curiosity and imagination concerning the lived reality of individuals, both elite and non-elite, in colonial Southeast Asia.
More important for me than the intellectual stimulus – and a factor often missed in these discussions – are the practical challenges of accessibility. Archival access is not just an affective experience but also a disability access issue. For instance, my preference for physical sources stems in part from my high myopia, which makes prolonged screen use challenging.Footnote 26 I find it much easier to read sources from paper than a screen. Moreover, I tend to get more out of physical sources as compared to their digital versions. For example, I learnt that a hard-copy cheque of the Mercantile Bank of India (Kuala Lumpur Branch) at the HSBC Archives was a specimen issued by the London engraver and printer Waterlow & Sons Limited (see Figure 3). The delicate imprint of specimen would have been less visible in digital form. This information is crucial as it suggests that this was not the version used in daily transactions. The making of cheques, a modern financial instrument in the Malay States during the early twentieth century, must have gone through rounds of editing and consultation between banks and printers.
Specimen cheque of the Mercantile Bank of India in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Six specimen cheques and a cheque book from Kuala Lumpur branch, 1900–1950, HQ HSBCEB 0002-0002-0008-0002, HSBC Archives. Reproduced courtesy of HSBC Archives.
Matters were less straightforward in Malaysia. ANM has a useful online search engine known as the Online Finding Aid, with a small number of documents available for public access.Footnote 27 There are also computer terminals onsite, which, according to the archivists, provide access to a wider range of collections, including those that are not available on its online search engine. These terminals are antiquated, yet effective and speedy in scouring for relevant files in Malay and English. Photocopying usually takes a couple of working days to process, and a return visit is necessary to collect the photocopies and make payment. Across all branches, ANM allows a maximum of one-third of each file to be copied. Staff members will enforce this rule as they verify the pages to be photocopied. The exact pages and documents to be photocopied must be written clearly on a form (see Figure 4). No cameras are allowed in the reading room, which makes photocopying essential (see Figure 5).
Photocopying form from ANM, Kuala Lumpur.
A sign at the entrance of the Reading Room, ANM in Kuala Lumpur. Photo taken by the author in March 2024.
A particular challenge in accessing these archives in-person has to do with the cost incurred not only with travel, accommodation and subsistence, but in using the archives themselves. At the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), there is a charge imposed for taking photographs of its collections. On a single day, it costs £7 for the right to take up to thirty images and £20 for more. There is an option of paying £80 for five days without limit. Students enjoy a discount of 25 per cent.Footnote 28 To save money, I attempted to take as many pictures as possible in a day. These costs, small though they might seem to some readers, are not insignificant for early career historians.
The realities of the archive – including the hurried photographing at LMA – inevitably negatively impact on the archival experience as an affective process. In light of time and cost constraints, this is unavoidable not only in the LMA, but also in other institutional archives. These constraints require me to navigate the interstices between material and digitised sources within the physical archive. I do this by swiftly handling physical files while noting special observations, such as the type of paper used, seals, symbols and signatures. I also pay attention to how papers were organised and embedded within archival files, particularly larger ones, as the way certain papers are bundled together can reveal key themes and networks surrounding a particular issue.Footnote 29 This approach enables me to engage with the materiality of the sources I encountered, whilst leaving interpretation and closer reading outside the archive.
Richard Cobb, a historian of France, has emphasised how archival travel is more than a necessity, it is a deeply personal process and experience of immersing oneself in history and culture. For him, experience is vital for historians who are travelling and researching abroad, in which the ‘sense of time, place, feeling of city (and) impression of belonging to a community’ helps not only in fostering personal empathy and connection, but also in producing intellectual insights on the historical topic under study.Footnote 30 Similarly, Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer discuss how the experience of travelling ‘authenticates the narrative, embodies it, makes it real, to the point where it threatens to re-engulf those who come to tell and to listen’.Footnote 31
Travelling to the archives provided valuable opportunities to explore the town or city where they were located. I visited several addresses and streets mentioned in letters I encountered in the archives and took time to wander around the surroundings (see Figure 6). This helps me greatly in understanding the nature of commercial activity and society in certain areas. In Malaysia, I gained insights on the multiculturalism that underpinned economy and society, even though it is a Malay-majority country. This multiculturalism is clear in the use of multiple languages, including English, Mandarin, Malay and Jawi, on signboards, for example. Despite travelling alone, I never felt lonely throughout my journey. Besides speaking to archivists, I also chatted with individuals, particularly taxi drivers who were curious on my visit to the small town of Kota Bharu, for example (see Figure 7). In these conversations, I could better appreciate the locations that I have visited, local cultures, and the things that mattered to the town’s population. Additionally, archives and place hold a special meaning to me on a personal level, as I got engaged at Singapore’s Registry of Marriages, located next to NAS, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Information on Chulia Street, Penang, Malaysia. Photo taken by the author in February 2025.
Signboard of a bicycle shop in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. Photo taken by the author in February 2025.
Researching ‘interim archives’ as an early career historian
Taken together, the predictable and less predictable considerations in accessing digital and physical archives discussed above led me to consider other primary sources that can be used alongside material located in institutional archives. In light of accessibility issues, I deploy the term ‘interim archives’ to emphasise not only the partiality of institutional holdings which have not been made entirely public, but also the need to read them together with alternative sources for a more complete and balanced understanding. This is not something new, as historians are turning to ‘archives of the people’, including private collections, fieldwork and visiting individual households.Footnote 32
In my research, I have turned to sources known collectively as ‘grey literature’,Footnote 33 including biographies, periodicals and information on social media, which has increasingly been used by Southeast Asian historians to create narratives that are more inclusive.Footnote 34 These materials complement institutional sources by providing perspectives beyond official and elite narratives. For me, social media is also a useful platform to connect with independent historians and contacts with useful sources and information. Moving forward, it is very likely that social media will become an ‘interim archive’, if not an archive in its own right, given the substantial amount of time of our lives that we spend online.
In my view, digitised sources can also be considered a form of ‘interim archives’ given the information that is lost in the process of digitisation not only by the archives, but also by the hard drives or cloud storage of the individual researcher. In some cases, it is still ideal to consult the physical copy of a record rather than its digital surrogate. A multi-archival approach is becoming increasingly necessary in historical research due to the realities of archival access and the need to take into account multiple perspectives. In addition, this approach should take the historian’s personal experiences, feelings and impressions of travelling into account, given how historical research is closely intertwined with affect and sensory experiences.
Like many historians before me, I have learned that archival research is rarely a simple matter. It is becoming increasingly challenging, especially in the case of foreign archives, as uncertainties around archival access are growing amidst a deteriorating geopolitical climate. My diverse experiences in accessing archives shaped my research direction, particularly the focus on transnational connections and lived experiences from below. For me, archival research becomes more enjoyable not only in my encounter with physical sources, but also in finding novel information that I would least expect to find. Research has rarely been isolating for me as I remained in constant communication with my friends, colleagues, professors, archivists, librarians and independent scholars. It is crucial, more than ever, for historians to work actively with stakeholders in the research community not only to gain knowledge on new sources of information, but also to form potential collaborations that are necessary to produce histories for the many.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the participants of the 2024 History Postgraduate Conference at the University of Warwick for their thoughtful questions and insightful comments on an earlier version of this commentary article. I am also grateful to Editors Dr Jan Machielsen, Professor Paul Readman and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. My deepest appreciation goes to my supervisors, Dr Song-Chuan Chen and Dr Charles Walton, for their mentorship. I would also like to express my gratitude to Professor Mark Knights, Dr Thomas Simpson, Dr Katayoun Shafiee, Ms Kay Jones and Ms Emma Russell for their advice and support. Additionally, I am thankful to the University of Warwick, ISEAS Yusof-Ishak Institute, Tan Kah Kee Foundation and Singapore Social Science Research Council for supporting my research.
Competing interests
None
Author biography
Jeremy Goh is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Warwick. His interests lie in business and financial history, Chinese overseas, capitalism, transnationalism and, more generally, Southeast Asia’s past and present. His doctoral project is titled ‘Globalising from the Periphery: Chinese Banking Transnationalism in Colonial Singapore, Malaya and China (1900–1950)’. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Pacific Business Review and Global Policy.
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