Inauguration of VTI Centenary Celebrations by His Excellency Shri R. Venkataraman, President of India 12.05.1988
Victoria Technical Institute, Anna Road, Madras
1887-1987
Victoria Technical Institute

A friend of the craftsmen
Any account of the growth of social service in Tamil Nadu will not be complete without a mention of the work undertaken by the Victoria Technical Institute. The Institute known all over the world as VTI is associated with the best that is found in the field of Indian arts and crafts. It occupies a unique position in that it pioneered the handicraft development and promotional activity six decades before the agencies were thought of by the Government. It is the marketing media for the unknown craftsmen and talented artisan in the remote parts of the country.
Conceived as a Charitable Trust, essentially to extend a helping hand to the unknown genius, lost in the villages, the Institute came into being as an Organisation in October 1887. The following is a chronicle account of service.
On the occasion of the Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen Empress Victoria in 1887,a Central Jubilee Committee was formed in the City of Madras and collections were made to commemorate the fifty years of her reign. The Government added to the funds collected, a grant equal to a moiety of the collections made on condition that the President and one-third of the Governing body should be nominated by the Government. The Committee accepted the offer of the Government and eight members of the Jubilee Committee and the President and four members nominated by the Government constituted the first Council of VTI. On 26th March 1889 the Victoria Technical Institute was incorporated under the Societies Registration Act.

The first sales report reads: “ as the goods sold were of a description not readily obtainable, it is very gratifying to the council to know that real assistance is being given to indigenous industries which are not in the most flourishing condition. Experience shows that one of the principal requisites for the prosperity of the art want the institute bids fair to satisfy. The following are some of the goods which have found the readiest sales: Cotton prints from Kumbakonam, Saidapet, Ponneri, Masulipatnam, Jammalamadugu, and Karuppoor, Travancore and Vizhagapatnam, ivory and Sandalwoodwork; Madura wood-carving, brass and silver work: Lacquer work of various kinds from Kondapalle. There is a large demand for Madura and Arni muslins and for the lace produced by the missions at Nagerkoil, Dummagudem, Tirunelveli, and Tirukkoilur, Madras embroidery, table cloths, handkerchiefs,muslin and cotton dresses,doyleys, etc., also find a steady stale. A few fine specimens of Quilandi inlaid metal work have also been sold and many such articles could be disposed of, if the supply equaled the demand.

VTI has ambitious plans to develop the land it has on Anna Road with a multi-storeyed  Complex which would have art galleries, auditorium, permanent production cum sales & Exhibition halls, With the resources generated out of the envisaged developments, crafts training centers will be promoted in the rural centres for the continuous on-going process of unearthing talents lying latent. VTI believes that avenues of self- employment and opportunities for supplemental income are potentially so enormous, for improving the quality of life in villages through the training centres. The human resource development aspirations of the Government will find in this activity and immediate opportunity to usher in a qualitative change in the life of rural masses.