A building repair in December revealed the presence of a 1795 time capsule in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House. The capsule, believed to have been placed originally by Paul Revere and Sam Adams, had been opened once before in 1855 so its contents could be put in a more durable box. Its contents were cataloged at that time, so we already had a pretty good idea what was in the box, but not what condition it might be in.
Today, after loosening the screws on the box for 4-5 hours, Pamela Hatchfield of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston revealed the contents.
Here's what was stashed away in the 1795 #timecapsule http://t.co/yJvKIGyP0N pic.twitter.com/kJYnFflfEf
— BostInno (@BostInno) January 7, 2015
Jake Tapper has the inventory:
Paul Revere's time capsule: 5 newspapers, 24 coins, page of govt records, 2 sheets of interleafing, seal of Massachusetts, silver plate.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 7, 2015
And, here’s one of the newspapers:
Here's a picture of the newspaper buried in #timecapsule by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams 220 years ago pic.twitter.com/TfaHI1dLL9
— Jason K. Morrell (@CNNJason) January 7, 2015
A silver plate at the bottom contained information about the laying of the cornerstone box, which was done by then Gov. Samuel Adams assisted by Paul Revere. American Revolution patriot Revere and Adams originally placed the relic under a cornerstone of the Boston Statehouse in 1795.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/552634224701100032/photo/1
And, here are the coins:
https://twitter.com/BerniceWBZ/status/552622569317494785/photo/1
A closer look from the Boston Globe, at the George Washington medal:
The paper “is in amazingly good condition,” Hatchfield said.
Coins were found next, including a 1652 Pine Tree shilling. Also found was a seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A George Washington medal was removed with the inscription “General of the American Army.”
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