Reminiscences of the Straits Settlements through Postcards

In the days before digital cameras, the Internet and camera-phones, postcards sent by snail mail to friends and family tell of the traveller's adventures abroad and were a quick way to communicate with loved ones. Even before mass tourism became commonplace and racks of picture postcards a standard feature at tourist spots, intrepid travellers were already sending out picture postcards. Often produced laboriously and in relatively small runs, these vintage picture postcards depicting landscapes, street scenes, people and cultural activities are windows into a vanished past. Picture postcards of the Straits Settlements produced from the late 1890s into the first few decades of the 20th century form important visual history. It is no surprise that the National Archives of Malaysia and National Archives of Singapore began collecting pictures postcards as historical materials. A huge number of these postcards are from the Straits Settlements era that began in 1867 and ended in 1946, particularly in the late 1890s and early 20th century when photography was still an expensive novelty and visual documentation of any kind rare indeed. As the Straits Settlements - Malacca, Penang and Singapore, share a common history and have many features in common, these commonalities are particularly obvious when one looks at the picture postcards produced during that time. It can sometimes be hard to tell which is what, so alike are some of the images of the Settlements, especially when they are of people and many of their economic activities.