Time capsules were a big deal back in the day. Preserving memories for future generations to discover always felt like a fun treasure hunt years in the making.
What would have chosen to leave to future students who attended your university decades after you? Students at Shenandoah University unearthed a time capsule recently that answered that exact question…
Treasures From the Past
Shenandoah students from the class of 2018 unearthed a time capsule that the class of ’93 had left behind. Filled with strange and hilarious items from the past, the current students assembled around the box to get a glimpse at the buried treasure of past students…
The DeLorean
Movies like Back to the Future fantasized the idea of time travel, as if it was something that would be attainable in the near future. While that isn’t exactly the case yet, time capsules gives us a glimpse into the past that we can only get from tangible objects…
Time Capsule History
In general, time capsules normally contain significant objects and treasures for future explorers. You might have put one together during your school years, and as recent findings have shown, it’s been a practice carried out for decades…
Back to 1777
Back in 2017, a time capsule from 1777 was found in Burgos, Spain. The actual capsule was a hollowed out statue of Jesus. Inside, two letters written by a Burgo de Osma Cathedral chaplain called JoaquÃn MÃnguez. The document contained information about historical events surrounding the chaplain at the time…
Too Much Information
While many think time capsules are useful pieces of history, one historian, William E. Jarvis, believes that typically, things found inside the hidden capsules don’t actually carry much information about the person who buried it. Luckily, that wasn’t the case for Shenandoah University students…
Waiting it Out
The one thing in particular that Jarvis isn’t a fan of, is the predetermined date for when future explorers should open the time capsules they find. While many have waited to until the date specified, to him, there’s no reason…
Damaged and Lost
Jarvis doesn’t think people should wait to open them until a certain date because the generations in between miss out on pieces of history. He actually worries that if important documents and bits of history were stored in time capsules, they don’t get preserved in the way they should be and/or they end up getting lost entirely…
Nova Scotia
Although Jarvis doesn’t love the idea of a time capsule, in 2018, the North Sydney Historical Society found one in the ruins of a former middle school in Nova Scotia. They had heard rumors about its existence, before locating it in the ruins…
In the Cement
Joe Meaney of the Historical Society told CBC News that the group knew something was there but they had no inclination as to what it was or how big it was. But still, they found a metal container buried inside a block of cement…
Dates and Dimes
The cache they found contained a newspaper that dated it back to 1949. There were a few other documents naming important figures in society at the time as well as a leather wallet containing some money…
Finding More
A former principal at the school told the local news media, “You never know what you’re going to find in it. And there was a lot of history in that time capsule, there’s no two ways about it.†However, that wasn’t the only capsule uncovered in 2018…
Michigan Capsule
In Michigan around the same time, a construction crew found another container in a school. This capsule was located in a hollow brick at Kenowa Hills’ Central Elementary School. The principal and a couple students opened it together…
Gone Too Soon
The capsule contained a newspaper obituary about a student named David who passed away prematurely at age 10. The paper was dated from 1967, another document inside revealed a secret about the school…
School Board Papers
School board paperwork was found inside the capsule, that focused on the values taught in the middle school at the time and the importance of retaining them in education. Rumors began to fly around, though, that Central had been concealing more than just a few old school papers…
Under Construction
“Our entire building is going to be undergoing construction until basically 2020,†their principal revealed. “So if there are additional time capsules, I’m sure we’re going to find them in the next few years.†This wasn’t the end of the discoveries…
Open in 2018
While construction is still underway at Central Elementary, more time capsules have yet to be found. But the students at Shenandoah University in Virginia were about to make a discovery of their own. A time capsule had been buried on the campus in 1993 with an inscription that read, “Class of ’93 Time Capsule Open in Year 2018″…
Dig it Up
On October 17, 2018, on homecoming weekend, university students unearthed the buried treasure. They lifted the slab up and began to dig below to unearth the cache buried beneath it…
93′ Flashback
A spokesperson for the university addressed the crowd and thanked them for their interest and attendance. The speaker went on to thank the class of 1993 for thinking of them 25 years prior. But what on earth did they bury?
The Ornate Box
The event host got on the mic to confirm that they had not opened the capsule prior to the event. The white ornate box that the class buried 25 years ago was sealed tightly. With a little muscle, they managed to lift off the lid…
Inside the Box
The contents were a bit damaged from moisture but all in all they were pretty well preserved. The first thing they pulled out was a piece of sheet music called “Sketches and Reflections 1993.” A student from the class on ’93 had apparently written it by hand. This was just the beginning…
The Vinyl
There was another musical treasure inside the capsule, too. A vinyl record called “Introducing…The Beatles” was tucked inside, featuring everybody’s favorite tunes “Twist and Shout,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Love Me Do.” A vinyl like this was worth a pretty penny these days…
The Award
The time capsule’s contents contained a bit of everything from the students across every fields of study at the university. There was a cross-stitched message saying “DANE, single and in love in America, Dec. 1992.” There was also an old acting award with the label “Best Actor.” Now THIS was a piece of history…
Protected Dinosaurs
Other students from the class of ’93 included mementos from their time at the university. One student submitted a little plastic dinosaur to pay homage to the release of “Jurassic Park.” Another student was kind enough to leave a pack of condoms that had seriously passed their expiration date…
Personal Items
They also found a stone hippo carving, some toy pacifiers, and other personal items, one of which was a musical recital program labeled with the contributors name, Tobie Norwood Robinson. This was truly a blast from the past…
The Cassette
Along with the musical program, there was a cassette tape. Low and behold, it still worked. When they pressed play, they couldn’t believe what they heard…
The Recording
The cassette tape played a recording of the actual musical performance. The crowd cheered when they heard it, and one of the event coordinators thanked the contributor for including such a tangible item in the capsule. The next discovery told more of a story, the ’93 yearbook…
The Mush
Groundwater unfortunately left the yearbook totally destroyed in a pile of mushy decay. There was another paper addition to the capsule that listed the top songs from the university radio at the time. This was a cool revelation about what exactly it felt like to be a student at the university in ’93…
The Playlist
The radio list featured songs by Queen, Aerosmith, and Michael Jackson, timeless musical icons. Inadvertently, the ’93 students also provided a look at television at the time. In a May ’93 copy of the university newspaper included in the capsule, there were TV listings…
Current Events
The TV listings included “The Wonder Years” finale, “Saved by the Bell,” and “Baywatch.” The newspaper proved to be pretty insightful, as the news headlines shared a look at the current events of the time. One headline read, “Serbs Will Collapse if Belgrade Stops Arms,” along with another interesting article…
The ’92 Election
In the capsule, there was also a political campaign pin from ’92 when Bill Clinton went against Al Gore for the presidency. Still, other capsule contributors had more personal events on their minds…
Personal Mementos
Many students placed notes and photo mementos into the capsule that shed some light on their social involvement. A music student, Marvin Everette Grice Jr. left a simple request for another student to find…
The Note
Grice left a simple handwritten note for one, Gloria Warner. His request: to share a dance with Gloria. Three other students also left notes of wishes and goals they had for the future…
Choir Trip
A photo of three women from the choir was included in the capsule. They had went to Switzerland for a performance in ’91 and each included notes alongside the photo…
Future Predictions
The notes focused on the women’s hopes for the future. “In 25 years, I see myself as an executive in a performing arts or visual arts organization. I hope to be happily married and have two or three healthy, well-adjusted children,” wrote one of the choir singers. The other notes were more telling…
Musical Goals
“I will have gone back to school and received a master’s degree,” Hartsell continued. “Perhaps in accounting, and either have received or be working towards a doctorate.” Burzio, on the other hand, wrote, “In 25 years, I see myself as Dr. Cathy, directing choral ensembles and theater productions at a small college.” Musical dreams were in store for all of the singers…
A Family Dream
Burzio went on, “I hope to be happily married with three or four children, possibly one adopted. I see myself living in the Midwest, waiting for grandchildren to come along any time.” Massarotto, the third singer in the photo, likewise wished to settle down with a family and a successful career…
Theatre Roles
“In 25 years, I see myself either at the Met or traveling in Europe performing in opera houses,” she explained. “I definitely see myself singing my dream role Mimi and possibly some operatic music theatre roles. Hopefully, I will be married to a wonderful man and be blessed with at least two children who are not tone deaf!” But things changed over the next 25 years…
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
“I see myself as a happy and successful opera diva,” Massarotto concluded. To some people gathered for this event, of course, the ’90s probably don’t seem like they were that far in the past. Yet others might not have even been born then. But a lot of change occurred and there’s evidence of that all over Shenandoah University…
New Buildings
New buildings had popped up all over the Shenandoah campus since ’93. A new theater, a health professions building, and a sports stadium. The university also nearly doubled its enrollment figures in the last 25 years…
A Piece of History
So, yeah, time capsules might not be the best way of preserving history, but they still offer plenty of insight into the past. Whether they’re filled with old coins or simply just a few old photos and notes, each time capsule shares something unique to be discovered by future explorers.