Time capsules have been buried across campus since the beginning; here’s a few we tracked down.
Some remain unopened. The 1924 Cornhusker yearbook mentions “the history of Memorial Stadium was included in the cornerstone that was put in the center box of the center section of the west stand.” No word on what became of those items.
AVERY HALL
Buried: 1916
Opened: 2014
On May 12, 2014, an 18-inch-wide by 12-inch-tall copper box nestled into the cornerstone of Avery Hall was removed. The box, buried in the chemistry building during its construction in 1916, held a rare photo of Rachel Holloway Lloyd the university’s second chemistry professor whose research launched sugar beet growing across the state.
UNIVERSITY HALL
Buried: 1877
Opened: 1948
In 1948, University Hall was demolished (because it was structurally unsound and only one floor of the building was left) to make room for Ferguson Hall, the new engineering building. Inside the University Hall cornerstone, items were retrieved that painted a picture of the campus in the 1800s through the eyes of the administration.
Items included: Chancellor Edmund Burke Fairfield’s letter explaining the items that were placed in the cornerstone, the chancellor’s report to the regents for 1873, 1874 and 1876, the bylaws of the Board of Regents at the time and an Aug. 17, 1877, copy of the Lincoln Daily Globe newspaper which discussed the trouble with University Hall.
GYMNASTICS TRAINING COMPLEX
To be buried: 2020
When the new 46,000-square-feet gymnastics facility is dedicated next year, the athletic department will honor the occasion by asking student gymnasts, contractors and athletic staff to place items they deem worthy of being saved and archived for future Husker gymnastics teams to find.
MEMORIAL STADIUM
Buried: 2013
To be opened: 2062
To celebrate 50 years of consecutive sellouts at Memorial Stadium, the athletic department buried 200 tiny time capsules. Two vaults, each with 100 capsules packed with Husker football T-shirts, pins, ticket stubs and memorabilia selected by fans, were buried near Gate 20, which is considered the original welcoming place for Husker fans when Memorial Stadium opened in 1923. The capsules will be opened in 2062, when Nebraska anticipates celebrating 100 years of consecutive sellouts.
FERGUSON HALL
Buried: 1954
To have been opened: 2004
In 1954 Sigma Tau (the engineering fraternity) buried a time capsule on campus to commemorate its chapter’s 50th anniversary. A stone pyramid, the symbol of the fraternity, was dedicated in honor of the founding members. Inside were predictions made by students of what they believed the future of engineering would look like. The time capsule was to be opened in 2004, but there is no evidence that it was ever unearthed. The pyramid now sits outside Othmer Hall … perhaps the capsule is still there.
ABEL HALL
Buried: 1974
Opened: 1984
In 1974 residents of Abel Hall placed an artifact-filled, gallon pickle jar in the vent of the dorm’s first floor lounge that they hoped future students would find. In 1984 someone did. Dared by friends to crawl through the dorm’s smallest vent, Aaron McDowell told The Daily Nebraskan, “I had just got in a little way when I found this thing.” Inside McDowell found a floor newsletter called Floorplay, football posters, a Coors beer can and a pregnancy pamphlet.
SCOTT ENGINEERING CENTER
Buried: 1987
To be opened: 2037
Students drafted, built, filled and buried a time capsule in front of the engineering building to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Engineering Week. The plan was to open the capsule 50 years later in the year 2037. Due to new construction and renovation of Scott, the capsule was unearthed this summer and put on display until it can be reburied. The capsule, which was carefully engineered to ensure preservation of its items, includes floppy disks, a voltage regulator and videocassette tapes.
TEACHING MOMENT
The College of Education and Human Sciences is planting its own time capsule this fall with a plan to open it in 2069. “As we wondered about ways we might celebrate the 150th anniversary, we were also completing the schematic-design phase of a new building. This historic context made it appropriate to honor the anniversary by constructing a (college specific) time capsule to be installed in a public space inside our new building,” said Dr. Julie Thomas, interim associate dean for research. Each college department will coordinate its artifacts to be placed in the capsule. “It will reflect and represent who we are today, at this historic moment in time, and describe us in the way we want future college faculty, staff, students and alumni to remember and consider the legacy we left for them.”