The Straits Times celebrates its 170^th anniversary with a multimedia exhibition that opens on July 17 at the ArtScience Museum, in Marina Bay Sands.

The 10-week exhibition, called Singapore Stories: Then, Now, Tomorrow, will be free for the public till Oct 4.  It will showcase key moments from the country’s rich history told through the pages of The Straits Times, Singapore’s oldest English-language daily and the leading newspaper.

These stories will unfold across six sections - Business, World, Home, Sport, Life and Forum.

“This is a special year for Singapore and The Straits Times. We want to mark both anniversaries, and we plan to do so by showcasing key events in Singapore’s history as seen through the pages of The Straits Times,” said Mr Warren Fernandez, editor of The Straits Times.

Visitors will get to see a reproduction of the very first issue of The Straits Times dated July 15, 1845, which was printed using a hand-operated press.  That maiden edition carried notices about shipping activity, warehouses for rent and foreign goods for sale. International market reports appeared at the back of the then weekly paper.

Another display to look out for is the first postwar edition dated Sept 7, 1945 which captured Singapore’s jubilant mood after it was liberated from the Japanese.

Hundreds of other front pages capturing major news will also be on display, as well as rarely seen photographs.  These include images of everyday life in early Singapore, such as an 1848 image of a flooded Cecil Street, and a 1956 photo of snake charmers squatting outside the defunct Sea View Hotel in Tanjong Katong.

The exhibition will bring history alive for Singaporeans of today, said Mr Fernandez.  It will “help us remember where we have been, how we got here, and where we might be heading," he added.

The paper, established by Armenian pioneer Catchick Moses, started out as an eight-page weekly.

Today, the daily's combined print and digital readership is 32.4 per cent of the population aged 15 and older, or 1.34 million people.

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Singapore Stories: Then, Now, Tomorrow
ArtScience Museum (6, Bayfront Avenue)
July 17, 2015 - Oct 4, 2015
10am - 7pm
Admission: Free

For more information and partnership opportunities with The Straits Times contact Niccolle Lum at 6319-4029 or e-mail nlum@sph.com.sg.

Click here for event sponsorship opportunities in SPH Newspapers.