Overview
This collections consists of a photograph album containing albumen prints and loose albumen prints that depict Chinese tea manufacturing processes, ca. 1885.
Dates
- Creation: 1885
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
2 linear feet (4 boxes)A collection of photographs that depict tea manufacturing in China and Japan during the 1880s. The collection consists of a photograph album containing thirty-nine albumen prints, as well as twenty-four loose albumen prints (some hand-colored). The photographs depict the entire tea manufacturing process: growing and harvesting; rolling, fermenting, and drying; tasting and packing. Most of the photographs were taken in China, but a few portray scenes of tea cultivation in Japan. The word “Japan” is stamped on the original album cover, but the photographs in the album appear to be Chinese. A few of the photographs in the album have brief captions. The Japanese photographs were likely produced commercially, and have some identifying information printed on the photographs. The photographs originally belonged to Nash & Hopkins, a Boston, Massachusetts, tea import firm that employed agents in China, Japan, India, and Ceylon.
Historical Note:
The cultivation and production of tea began in prehistoric China, and over the millennia it spread to Japan, India, Africa, and South America. By the late nineteenth century, Chinese tea manufacturing processes were highly evolved and its product was popular throughout the world. Chinese tea farms were small and local, unlike the large European-owned plantations common in India and Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). Chinese peasants grew and picked tea near their own villages, then sold it to local tea making firms for processing. The tea makers subjected the leaves to a variety of processing steps, depending of the type of tea being made. These production steps included withering, rolling, fermentation or oxidation, and drying. The three categories of tea resulting from this process are black tea (fully fermented), oolong (semi-fermented), and green tea (unfermented). Specially trained Western “expectorators” or tea tasters employed by the foreign tea-export firms that purchased the product then graded the tea according to its quality. The handcrafted tea was tightly packed in wooden chests and shipped to Europe, America, and the rest of the world.
Series Outline
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Series I. Loose photographs, ca. 1885
- Series II. Photograph album, ca. 1885
- Series III. Large format photographs, ca. 1885
Physical Location
MANU
Provenance:
Gift of Nash & Hopkins, April 1933.
Processing Information
Processed: August 2001
By: Maggie Hale
Processing Note:
The photographic prints and album were reunited as a single collection during the Historical Collections photographic survey project of 1999 to 2001. During 2001, the prints were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. A professional conservator treated the photograph album. The original binding was removed, and then each photograph was cleaned. Loose photographs were reattached as necessary. The edges of the board weight pages were consolidated, and a new post-binding cover was created for the album. The lettering found on the original album cover was reproduced on the new binding.
- Title
- Tea Industry Photograph Collection, ca. 1885: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Baker Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- bak00099
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu