Scope and Contents 212 x 159 mm. View of the exterior of the building from the north west, ‘As a picture, however, the palm must be given to the view from the hill above, in which the Lake, the little islet opposite the Government Factory, the Pettah and the Fort of Colombo form the really beautiful background; a massive group of palms to the left of the foreground fulfilling the exigency of all truly oriental scenes. By way of violent contrast we suppose and to commemorate the primitive modes of conveyance...

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140 x 57 mm colour print.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

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Half-plate. New offices for Public Works Department in course of erection. Hoods of bullock carts are of dead palm leaves. Building is of red brick, but mostly hidden by screens of plaited cocoanut [i.e. coconut] leaves to keep rain off new brick work. (Fisher). [Wooden scaffolding all round building].

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Showing tower with lantern top. (Clock tower white. Water buffalos a dirty gray colour). (Fisher).

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Showing tower with lantern top. (Clock tower white. Water buffalos a dirty gray colour). (Fisher).

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206 x 155 mm. View looking east from Galle Face towards the narrow northern portion of the Island, with the main part of the lake beyond. The commandants’ quarters (exact location unidentified, but presumably near the old Parade Ground) are a set of two large bungalows connected by a narrow wing in which the main entrance is set.

Scope and Contents Detailed diary written whilst Smedley visited the United States (including Hawaii), Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bombay, Bangladesh and Pakistan with Lord Home, Commonwealth Secretary, 1955-57 (143 sheets).This file also includes a pamphlet entitled, ‘The Frontier: a miscellany prepared for the RH Earl of Home on the occasion of their visit to Peshawar on 1st November, 1955’, with complimentary note inside; invitation cards to Smedley from Government...

Scope and Contents This is an unedited draft of a book in which Alexander set out to give 'a personal account of my contacts with universities in the developing countries of the Commonwealth.'It begins with the background of Alexander’s own university education at Auckland, Cambridge and London; describes Raffles College and the University of Malaya; and his work at the University of Ibadan and the contribution of its Physics Department during the International Geophysical Year 1957-58. Considerable...

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278 x 210 mm. View of the coconut productions exhibit shown at the Edinburgh Forestry Exhibition of 1884. Products include furniture, matting, brooms, ladles, toys, etc.

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Quarter-plate.

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158 x 84 mm. Joined stereo pair showing a group of coffee estate labourers, with hills in the background. Deltota is in the lower Hewahetta District.

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280 x 211 mm. Showing copra drying on wooden racks in an open fronted shed.

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The caption printed on the reverse reads: 'The nuts after being husked, as shown on the left-hand side, are broken in halves and dried in the sun, after which they are smoked in the covered shed. The right-hand shed shows copra in the bags ready for export. In the background are coconut palms'.

Scope and Contents Letter from W.J. Wickramage (General-Secretary of Salvation Army in Ceylon) about memorial for Colonel William McQueen Fleming, with printed memorial service attached, 24 May 1973; correspondence between Smedley, W.A.V. Sinnatamby, and Lionel Fernando of Trinity College, Kandy, regarding Smedley’s efforts at crop-growing and supply of seed, 2 May-30 May 1975; further correspondence between Smedley and Sinnatamby regarding research into cattle feed, 4 August 1975; correspondence with W....

Scope and Contents Not all contents have been listed, but items include correspondence between Smedley and Sir Edward Youde (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) concerning post-retirement work; letter from W.J. Adams to Smedley, 10 October 1980, on role of wives of heads of missions and necessity for reduced expenses; correspondence with Sir Michael Palliser (CRO, 1975-82), including letter from Smedley expressing surprise at Prime Minister James Callaghan’s remarks on Africa in Washington, 2 June 1978; letter,...

Scope and Contents This file largely contains letters to Smedley, mostly dating from the 1970s. Not all contents have been listed, but items include letters from Sir Thomas Williams MP (President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union), 27 Apr. 1977; from Alan Rudwick (Headmaster of Achimoto School), 29 Sep. 1977; from Alec Douglas-Home, July 1973; from Peter Ratcliffe (British Embassy, Laos), 14 Jan. 1975; from Mr Justice Michael Kerr, regarding family issues and law commission of 1978-81, 31 July 1978; from...

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279 x 211 mm. Showing a tall specimen of the talipot palm growing among other trees.

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72 x 144 mm.

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198 x 126 mm. Half tone reproduction from the ‘Ceylon Observer’. Group portrait from a photograph by Mr Humphrey Humphreys. Humphreys is listed in Peterson’s ‘Ceylon Almanac’ for 1869 as a planter at Rutnagheria, Dimbula.

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Quarter-plate. At Medapola [(Kela Gange River) - sorting out -.]

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Half-plate. At Medapola (Kela Gange river) sorting out. Floor is shining white with the plumbago which has been trodden into. (Fisher).

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279 x 211 mm. Showing workers sorting and discarding barren cocoa pods.

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156 x 109 mm.

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282 x 214 mm. Close up view of the intricate stonework of the wall of the Dalada Maligawa, the shrine of the sacred tooth.