• Sulakshana de Mel on putting together a coffee table book celebrating 125 years of Ladies’ College

Despite being located in the heart of Colombo 7, Flower Road (now Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha) is a relatively quiet street that seems removed from the hustle and bustle of the city. Occupying space on this road is Ladies’ College, an all-girls school that has been a place of learning, friendship, and diversity since 1900.

As Ladies’ College marks 125 years of excellence in February 2025, the school has prepared a coffee table book that holds within its pages the stories and memories that pupils, past and present, undoubtedly cherish. Compiling and editing this book is Sulakshana de Mel, whose academic training is in social and cultural anthropology.

“At present, I am about to embark on a PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The focus of my research would be Dutch period Ceylon, the communities that came here during that period, and reading history through the food culture they brought with them,” she said.

In conversation with The Daily Morning Brunch, de Mel gave us a look at what the coffee table book contains and what kind of research went into putting it together.

Beyond history

De Mel’s involvement in the project began over a year and a half ago, when Ladies’ College Principal Deepika Dassanaike and her team invited de Mel to work on a coffee table book for the school’s quasquicentennial celebrations in 2025.

“The brief was very precise. I was given a challenge not to exceed 125 pages, symbolic of 125 years since the school was founded. The book was envisioned to be quite unique to fit this milestone event. The goal was to come up with a book that was not just a ‘history’ book with facts and figures, but something that would invoke the curiosity of the reader to explore the school’s history beyond the obvious,” she said, adding that the aim was to create something that was visual and interactive, inciting the reader to engage and appeal to any age group.

De Mel said that she knew from the first meeting that the process was going to involve in-depth research. The Ladies’ College Archive Room played a pivotal role in her research, with de Mel saying she discovered hidden gems every single day. “After several visits and many hours spent in the Archive Room, I discovered another treasure trove inside the locked-up cupboards in the Senior Library and the Catalogue Room,” she added.

De Mel said she spent many days reading and collecting material, carefully selecting relevant information from the vast sea of material she had at hand, which formed the base of the book. “Further, I spent a day at the Trinity College archive in Kandy, pouring over old documents on Ladies’ College with the very helpful curator of the archive. Reaching out to the archivist at the Cheltenham Ladies’ College in Gloucester shed more light into the extraordinary early life of (founder) Lilian Evelyn Nixon.”

Showing just how much research went into the book, de Mel said she also reached out to alumnae who graciously opened up their family archives, through which she gathered exciting new leads that helped her discover lesser-known narratives of the school. “These tell the personal journeys and stories that give the book its essence. Simply put, the wealth of documents I have come across and collected are sufficient to have a new exhibition every day in the school compound for the whole of 2025!”

What makes LC different?

De Mel’s extensive research allowed her to collect a wealth of information, but she was then faced with another responsibility: Answering a fundamental question she had in mind, which was ‘What made Ladies’ College so different to other schools?’

“I found my answer in Nixon’s values. The first half of the book dives into the core values and principles that formed the base of the school she established for generations of young girls in Sri Lanka. I have tried to illustrate her passion and drive not just through text, but also through drawings, newspaper cuttings, scanned magazines from the early 1900s, photographs, anecdotes, interviews, and interactive elements,” de Mel explained.

She said: “As you turn the pages of this book, I hope you discover her core values through a collection of personal narratives by 25 batches spanning from 2001-2025, principals and vice principals of the past two-and-a-half decades, and a few selected alumnae.”

De Mel added that the common thread she tried to retain across the book was on Nixon’s core values. “I wish the reader an exploratory journey of its discovery in the reading of this book. I hope the seeds of curiosity I have planted in this book will propel you to read more and reconnect with Nixon’s values which she envisioned for us all,” de Mel shared.

Personal narratives and interactive elements

Describing the book, de Mel said readers will find a timeline from 2000-2025 in the second half of the book, capturing significant milestones of each year. Of the interactive elements found in the book, de Mel said they were all carefully thought through.

“The interaction starts on the cover with red gates opening out. Walking through these crimson gates, you will find illustrations of heritage buildings, the ethos through interactive spaces, and school uniform depicted in fun ways. You will also find a diverting activity in the form of Q&A. In the interviews, I have tried my utmost to retain the ‘voice’ of the speaker as well as nuances of language and expression,” she said. De Mel added that the writing styles and phraseology have been retained as much as possible in the written submissions received for the book.

Speaking about the experience of carrying out research, interviewing alumnae, and visiting family archives and the school, sometimes on a daily basis, de Mel said she found the experience to be very fulfilling.

“To come back to school after all these years and give back to the very school that helped shape my own values and approach to life is very rewarding indeed. The child who walked through those crimson gates several decades ago, I believe, would have been very proud of who I have become today,” de Mel added.