About
About the archive
The Ceylon Plates is a free, public archive of 1,598 early photographs of Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon when most of them were made. It began as a private collection of images gathered over many years. Most of the pictures date from the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.
How much do we really know?
Most of these images reached the collection with no caption, so each is labelled honestly:
- Identified (313): Named on the print, matched to a published caption, an unmistakable landmark, or identified by the collection’s owner.
- Likely (530): A probable identification that has not been confirmed.
- Uncertain (755): The kind of scene is clear, but the place or people are not established.
Most dates are estimates based on photographic style and subject, and each photograph’s page says how its date was reached. Where a title or date comes from another archive, it is linked and has not been independently confirmed. Errors are likely, and corrections are welcome.
A note on language and images
Many of these photographs were made for colonial and tourist markets. Their captions and poses can reflect the prejudices and power imbalances of that time, and the people in them are rarely named. Words such as “cooly” appear here only where they are quoted from the print itself. Our own descriptions use neutral language. Some photographs from the original collection are not shown online.
Rights and removals
These photographs are very old, but scans and copies can have their own history, and the original source of many of these files is unknown. If you hold rights in any image, or if a photograph concerns your family and you would like it reviewed, please write using the form below and quote the reference number from its page. We will look at every request promptly. See also our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Share a photograph
Do you have old photographs of Sri Lanka in a family album? Find out how to share them.