A 100-year-old time capsule was discovered recently in Baltimore. However, officials are reluctant to open the capsule because they say that the box is so damaged that opening it might ruin what's inside. The box is going to be taken to Walters Art Museum, where art conservators will determine whether the contents of the box can be saved.
The time capsule was discovered at Baltimore's Washington Monument while officials were restoring the monument. The Washington Monument's 200th anniversary is coming up next year. This capsule was placed at the monument about 100 years ago, on Sept. 12, 1915, during the celebration of the monument's centennial.
The capsule was uncovered on Wednesday October 29, behind a plaque marked 1915. The restorers did not have any idea that a time capsule was hidden in the Monument until they came upon it by chance. The project's superintendent, George Wilk II, discovered the time capsule by accident while checking behind the plaque during renovations.
"I removed the plaque just enough to stick my hand behind the plaque to stick a camera back there and take a photo. In the photo showed a box so I reattached the plaque and called Dr. Humphries to let him know that there was a box in the niche behind the plaque," Wilk said.
The team was hoping to learn more about the type of plaster originally used in the building by checking behind the plaque. Instead, they found the time capsule.
Wilk said that he was ecstatic when he laid eyes on the capsule.
Although the time capsule has not yet been opened, an X-ray of the box revealed that it may contain copies of the Baltimore Sun, commemorative programs from the Washington Monument's centennial, and other items.
The Conservancy is planning to create their own time capsule to leave in the place of the newly-found one from 1915. Lance Humphries, the chair of the Mt. Vernon Conservancy Restoration Committee, said that he wanted to fill the capsule with things that would make sense to viewers in a hundred years.
"Someone said, 'What about a phone?' Well, that won't work 100 years from now," Humphries said.
