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| Sunday, 24 August 2003 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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History of Ceylon Tea on the web Dilmah Tea has launched the History of Ceylon Tea web site, an ambitious industry service project in reproducing online the history of Ceylon Tea. It is one of the largest information sites in the world, with almost 35,000 pages which document the creation of Ceylon Tea since the mid-1800s. The project is said to be the first and only one of its kind in the tea industry and has been hailed by industry insiders as a truly significant contribution to the tea industry. It began with one man's desire to give something back to an industry that has given him so much. That 'something' is the story of one of the world's greatest industries - Ceylon Tea. A lack of funds for preserving the dimishing collection of literature devoted to Ceylon Tea, has led to fragmentation and loss of many important and irreplaceable volumes. In response, Merrill J. Fernando, Founder and chairman of Dilmah partnered with the Planters' Association to initiate the 'History of Ceylon Tea Project'. As much a tribute to the courage of the pioneers of Ceylon Tea as a reminder to future generations of the origins of an industry that made Sri Lanka famous, the project involves digitally archiving every page of the Planters' Association Library, and presenting the indexed pages on the Internet for free access. Many of the publications have remained in storage since the 1970s, and could neither be used for research nor be properly preserved for the future. Most are therefore damaged beyond repair. The project team retained by Dilmah to manage the arduous task of photographing these publications, The Computer Centre Ltd had to specially import equipment and materials to prevent damaging the delicate books while photographing them. It took over a year to photograph, catalogue and index online the first 108 books or 34,000 pages, and this process was completed by a team of seven, working continuously for 14 months. The objective of the project is to preserve and share the archive and so, having painstakingly photographed the publications, Dilmah has published the contents online at www.historyoftea.dilmahtea.com for free access by researchers, consumers of tea or anyone who wishes to learn about Ceylon Tea. This industry service project has cost Dilmah over one million rupees and it will continue with an invitation to planters and other collectors to submit their collections for digital archiving. The website will shortly be enhanced with a chat room facility. |
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