Tubman Hall Time Capsule Opened

As Tubman Hall was demolished this summer a time capsule was removed from the building's cornerstone. A few weeks after, I found myself standing alone in my office with hammer in hand, poised to pry open the box.  Remember the guy in Indiana Jones whose face melts when he gazes upon the arc of the covenant? That's what I was thinking about. I wondered what form of boogieman might pop out.

Unfortunately, the box was one giant disappointment.  Not only were there no monsters, but the paper disintegrated and any secrets contained within were permanently lost.  It was not difficult to guess what happened.  When I first looked at the led capsule I noticed a pinhole in one of the corners.  In fact, I used that weak spot as the starting point to pry it open.  Significant moisture must have leached into the box through the hole and destroyed all of the contents.  The paper did not bend or fold as one would expect.  Instead it crumbled at the slightest touch.

When I first peered into the box the papers looked whole. Within a the span of just a few blinks of the eye, however, it looked like a confetti bomb had deployed in my office.   The first item that I removed, a small booklet, exploded in mid-air and fluttered to the ground.  I never even had a chance to read it.

Regrettably, the vast majority of the contents ended up in the library cleaning lady's vacuum cleaner where it is forever lost to me. A reel of film was easily identified, but the emulsion that held the images onto the film was washed away. I was able to salvage a few items - an architectural drawing of campus, a high school dance recital program, a 1951-1952 freshman handbook, a 1950-1952 student handbook, a program from the laying of the Tubman cornerstone, and an Omega Psi Phi fraternity "Trusting Hearts" event program.

If you are interested in viewing the time capsule content I would be happy to email you the scans or photographs that were captured for each item. Please note that due to preservation concerns, access to the physical items is restricted.