First Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils: A Living Record of The Community’s Rich History and Heritage
Bilingual resource to bring Singapore Tamils’ history to life
On the 2nd August 2025, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam launched the Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils (EST), a first-of-its-kind online resource documenting the life, contributions and times of the Tamil community in Singapore over the past 200 years. A collaboration between the Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture (CSTC) and NLB, the EST is available in both English and Tamil, making the resource more accessible and discoverable to the wider community, including educators, researchers, and members of the public.
Published in conjunction with SG60 and NLB’s 30th anniversary, the EST contains more than 350 entries that cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to historical events, arts, community organisations, journalism, education, politics, and personalities. It places special emphasis on lesser-known aspects such as Tamil organisations and publications. A dedicated team of CSTC volunteers, comprising working professionals, retired educators, freelance writers, and more, collaborated with NLB on this milestone project. NLB provided technical expertise in areas such as cataloguing, image curation, and quality checks, among others.
Source: National Library Board, Singapore