Contribute Your Artefacts and Stories
To commemorate the legacy of our founding leaders, the Founders’ Memorial is holding a public call for objects and stories that showcase your experiences and the values upon which independent Singapore was built.
Our Values
- Multiculturalism: Appreciating our distinct cultural characteristics while embracing a Singaporean identity and shared purpose.
- Boldness: Having the courage to dream big and daring to be different.
- Resilience: Showing perseverance and picking oneself back up even after setbacks.
- Openness: Staying outward looking and connected to the world, and welcoming opportunities that this brings.
- Service to Others before Self: Having a sense of public duty and purpose and working together towards a common cause.
- Integrity: Having the moral courage and accountability to do the right thing even when it is hard.
Our Wishlist
Everyday objects and personal stories can be connected to important national milestones and showcase the values that independent Singapore was built on. We are actively seeking objects and stories captured in our wishlist and hope to gather yours to add to the richness of our nation-building story. We also welcome you to share objects and stories related to other important national milestones not listed here.
Before You Submit
Get your item ready
This can be an image of the artefact or a story you would like to share.
Know its significance
Prepare to tell us why it’s significant to Singapore and to you.
Proceed to submit
After you have prepared everything, you are good to go!
This form will take at least 10 minutes to complete.
Looking for tips on how to submit? Check it out here.
Frequently Asked Questions
A: The Founders’ Memorial will focus on key leaders in Singapore’s founding history such as Lee Kuan Yew, S Rajaratnam and Goh Keng Swee (among others in Singapore’s first to fourth Cabinets) in the first two decades of Singapore’s nation-building years (1950s - 70s). In fleshing out the national milestone and key policies in our nation-building history, we will also look at individuals who played key leadership roles in post-independent Singapore. These include but are not limited to:
- Community leaders
- Heads of State, political office holders, Members of Parliament, civil servants, heads of statutory boards and government-linked companies
- Members of political parties who played key roles in the years leading up to independence
A: From 2015 to 2017, thousands of Singaporeans shared that they hope the Memorial will commemorate Singapore’s founding values. These values have been distilled through continued public engagements and research:
• Multiculturalism: Appreciating our distinct cultural characteristics while embracing a Singaporean identity and shared purpose.
• Boldness: Having the courage to dream big and daring to be different.
• Resilience: Showing perseverance and picking oneself back up even after setbacks.
• Openness: Staying outward-looking and connected to the world, and welcoming opportunities that this brings.
• Service to Others before Self: Having a sense of public duty and purpose and working together towards a common cause.
• Integrity: Having the moral courage and accountability to do the right thing even when it is hard.
A: We are interested in both objects and stories that can tell the story of Singapore’s history from the 1950s - 70s and are illustrative of our founding values. We are looking for objects that are aligned to our historical milestones; these can range from everyday objects to one-of-a-kind objects. Should you only have a story to share, we would love to hear from you as well.
You may refer to the wishlist for examples of objects and stories. That said, the wishlist is a non-exhaustive guide to possible objects and/or stories. If your object and/or story is not covered by the wishlist, please feel free to still share it with us.
A: Yes, please do still share your object and story with us, with as many details as you can recall. For fields that you are unable to fill in, do type in a “N.A.” for now.
A: We understand the personal significance of objects, especially if they are an important part of yours and your family’s history. The interpretation and presentation of Singapore's history have been greatly enriched with objects that people have shared with NHB. Hence, we would be grateful if you could share more about the object with us and we could discuss further on the next steps.
A: We appreciate every object and story shared with us, and understand the value each has, whether on a personal, community or national level. However, we will not be able to take in all contributions and hence will carefully go through submissions to identify the objects that are most aligned to the Founders’ Memorial values-based narrative. That said, as the Memorial will have rotating exhibitions and programmes when it opens in 2027, there will be further opportunities for community engagement and collaboration.
A: Thank you for sharing and we are appreciative of your time and effort in doing so! Please give us some time to go through the contributions and we will get in touch with you on the outcome. In the meantime, we hope you will explore our online exhibition and do visit our travelling exhibition if you have not done so.