One hundred and fifty years ago the University of Nebraska was chartered and charged with its land-grant mission of public education and service to Nebraska.
By Lauryn Higgins (’18)
One hundred and fifty years ago the University of Nebraska was chartered and charged with its land-grant mission of public education and service to Nebraska. What exactly has transpired since Feb. 15, 1869, and what does the future hold? We need look no further than the rudimentary archiving system of the time capsule.
While digital archives are now commonplace, 3D artifacts frequently offer a sense of what mattered most long ago. Our campus encompasses everything from official items placed in cornerstones while buildings were erected to co-eds shoving beer cans and football posters into wall vents of dormitories.
“People who create a time capsule want their observations to last and to inform others. In some ways, it is like keeping a diary or leaving a narrative with a will — it’s the testament,” said John Wunder, emeritus professor of history. While capsules preserve a moment in history, it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of their own narrative. “One thing I would suggest is that the term ‘time capsule’ might be flexibly defined. For example, pyramids and the burials of Egyptian royalty have proven to be highly sophisticated and valuable time capsules,” Wunder said.
Perhaps keys to our past can be found in such buried treasures. We located some of those that had been hidden away and since opened, as well as some buried, yet to be unearthed. We now prepare to create a new time capsule in celebration of the university’s sesquicentennial.
We can learn a lot about what communities value by opening time capsules. In many ways, it’s the perfectly curated social media highlight reel, complete with photographs and stories. While it’s impossible to encapsulate an entire generation or a feeling into a single hand-held vessel, it is possible to create an immediate moment in time and provide the future a glimpse of the past.
It seems only natural for a celebration as grand as the sesquicentennial for the university to create a time capsule at this point in time. To be located inside the Wick Alumni Center, the N150 time capsule will be filled, buried in the Seacrest Library wall and sealed with items hand-selected by each college, the chancellor’s office and other campus stakeholders. The capsule will be sealed at the end of the year and opened in 50 years when the university celebrates its 200th anniversary.
“I am really proud to be invited to contribute to this time capsule, and my artist book LandEscape will be a great complement in the collection,” said Karen Kunc, Cather Professor of Art at the School of Art, Art History and Design. One of Kunc’s books was selected by the fine and performing arts college to be placed inside the time capsule.
The College of Arts and Sciences will include faculty work as well, along with a T-shirt signed by various staff and students, and a flash drive containing photos and documents. The College of Journalism and Mass Communications will contribute a small drone to showcase the continuing innovation that is occurring in the journalism field. The College of Architecture will include a 3D printed model of its historic building made with its own 3D printer and a T-shirt designed by a student. Sheldon Museum of Art is including a piece of the travertine from the building itself.
There will be branded items from each of the restaurant vendors on campus — think Valentino’s pie-shaped pizza box, but clearly not the pizza itself.
The Chancellor’s Office has selected items that represent the university as a whole and its lasting legacy. That office will include a N150 chancellor’s coin, a collection of Chancellor Ronnie Green’s tweets and a letter to the 2069 chancellor.
Bursting with history and stories of today worthy of saving, the N150 time capsule will hold pieces of the present in which the future can take delight.
Read about some of the time capsules buried on campus.