Research in the margins
Siti Aisyah
Year 4 · History · Singapore Historian of small things: shop signs, school report cards and the paperwork people kept in biscuit tins.
Explore selected work
Selected work
Signs of the Street
Old shop signs show which languages a street used, and when that changed. Most of them are being replaced.
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Slide 1 of 3: Signs of the Street
Experience
Heritage Intern
Neighbourhood heritage trust (non-profit)
- Rewrote 14 trail panels and fact-checked them against archives.
- Ran a test walk with residents.
Archive Volunteer
Community history project
- Scan and catalogue donated photographs every second Saturday.
More projects
Directory page
1975, street index, page 214.
Slide 1 of 3: Directory page
About
My grandfather kept every receipt from his provision shop in a biscuit tin, and I've been reading old paper ever since. History, to me, is mostly ordinary people's paperwork.
I like archives, walking, and interviews, and I try to write history that my neighbours would actually read.
I also collect old shop signs (only the ones being thrown away), cycle on weekends, and make very good kopi at home.
Education & community
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History, Year 4, Singapore.
Modules: Archival Methods, Urban History of Southeast Asia, Oral History, Public History, Material Culture.
Department undergraduate prize for best Year 3 essay, 2025.
Skills
- Research
- Archives
- Oral history
- Street directories
- Source criticism
- Public history
- Trail writing
- Online exhibits
- Plain English
- Digital
- Scanning & cataloguing
- Airtable
- QGIS basics
Recent updates
13 Sep 2026
27 Aug 2026
30 Jul 2026
Sample portfolio · fictional student