{"id":2162,"date":"2019-12-01T08:13:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T14:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/asc\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2021-10-15T16:25:18","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T21:25:18","slug":"evans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/asc\/2019\/12\/01\/evans\/","title":{"rendered":"Evans’ time capsule contents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although many more<\/a> are known to exist, only three time capsules have been opened in IWU’s 169-year history. One was discovered accidentally<\/a> when the iconic arch<\/a> that still led into Duration Hall, last remnant of Hedding Hall\/Old Main, was torn down. All that remains of the contents of that box are pieces of bank notes it contained and the description of its other contents as reported in the 1966 Wesleyana<\/a> (p. 23).<\/p>\n

The second was a much more purposeful removal from Sheean Library<\/a>.The contents of this box were in excellent condition and are reported on in previous blog posts<\/a>. The third was also a planned removal, this time in honor of the 50th anniversary of its placement rather than being due to the building’s destruction. This post describes the discoveries made as a result of this recent unveiling.<\/p>\n

As previously reported<\/a>, when the Evans Observatory’s time capsule was opened in preparation for the official unveiling at Homecoming 2019, much of the content was too deteriorated to salvage. Moisture interacted with a battery and food inside the copper box and the damage to the other material was extensive!<\/p>\n

\"poster<\/a>

A poster of several of the damaged objects (clockwise from top right): the thermal battery, a microfilm reel with the Bloomington phone directory (rolled and unrolled), close-up of a rolled map (enclosed in a plastic sleeve and closed by a metal snap; unrolled map in center), a long shot of the capsule’s damaged contents. (click any image in this blog post to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

Everything that was paper-based was congealed into a solid mass but fortunately, most of these were all widely distributed publications from the University and local businesses. We were able to separate two unique paper items:<\/p>\n\n\t\t