The Library and Archive Sub-collection holds a wide range of printed materials related to natural history and zoology in Singapore, the region and beyond. The thousands of books, journals, theses, catalogues, manuscripts, letters and field notes in the collection were contributed over decades by naturalists, field researchers, public donors and staff from the Museum.

While the Library Sub-collection comprises both old bound volumes and contemporary publications, the Archive Collection preserves handwritten catalogues, notebooks and sketches. Highlights of the collection include the Raffles Museum’s specimen accession registers recorded by C. B. Kloss and H. C. Robinson in the 1920s and 1930s, field notes and maps by entomologist Prof D. H. Murphy from his mangrove research in Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as notebooks and catalogue cards from zoologist Dr S. H. Chuang when documenting the corals, shells and marine organisms he collected across Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Together, the Library and Archive Sub-collection complements the Museum’s specimens and makes for an invaluable resource for historical, taxonomic and biodiversity studies.