Northwestern University Opens Time Capsule From 1954
(CBS) -- In the basement of Northwestern University's library, people are hammering away at a copper-lined box, smashing open three sealed glass tubes found inside, and marvelling at the condition of the documents they contained.
"I shook it a little bit before I opened it up," says Northwestern University Archivist Kevin Leonard, with anticipation. "I wanted to see what was in there. We didn't want to have Al Capone's vault."
CBS2's Vince Gerasole reports, the time capsule from 1954 preserved the names and addresses of six thousand Northwestern donors, a picture of retail magnate and founder of K-Mart Sebastian Kresge, and newspaper articles detailing how they came together that year to finance the $3 million construction of the school's Kresge Hall.
Helium pumped inside the glass tubes was intended to preserve the documents inside
"Obviously it worked. They looked like they were created today," Leonard said.
In 1954 Northwestern University students were rocking around the clock to Bill Haley and The Comets, eating the first Swanson TV dinners and attending a school in desperate need of new classroom space. Sixty-two years later, the capsule was discovered by construction crews updating Kresge Hall.
It may not have been the most dynamic of discoveries as far as pop culture is concerned, but for the folks who keep track of tradition at Northwestern University, it was a moment to remember.
