Time capsule contents disturbed
The contents of a 1911 time capsule opened in Palmerston North on Friday could have uncovered amystery.
The copper box buried by the foundation stone of the recently-demolished St Paul’s Methodist Church in Broadway has been drying out in Te Manawa’s conservation laboratory.
It had been water-logged when church historian and former mayor Jill White collected the container coated in brick dust and verdigris from the site in March.
Conservator Detlef Klein’s inspection of the capsule on his first attempt at lifting the lid found the lead soldering that should have sealed the container had failed.
There was a hole caused by a chisel during the search among the bricks to uncover the capsule, but that was clearly recent damage. ‘‘The lid was compromised a long time ago,’’ Klein said, and there was a very old dent. ‘‘It did not happen during the demolition.’’
And inside, the contents were not quite how they were expected to be.
There were copies of the June 11, 1911 Evening Standard and the June 20 Manawatu Daily Times, and a collection of coins, but something was wrong with the note of the names of the people involved in the building project.
From one side of the box, Klein was able to carefully extract an envelope. It was water damaged, which was to be expected, but it was also ripped.
The note that was expected to be inside the envelope was instead stuck to the other side of the box, unable to be removed.
Klein’s theory was that the container had been tampered with some time between its placement, and being fully bricked in. ‘‘Maybe somebody got in and had a look.’’ White said it was tremendously exciting to finally see the contents of the capsule, and to have a tangible reminder of the early Palmerston North personalities who thought to put it there.
She was delighted the papers had come out better than pulp, and that some printing was still legible.
The coins, some dated 1908, included a florin, a half crown, a penny, a shilling, a sixpence and a threepenny bit.
The papers would be sealed in plastic and frozen until a paper conservator could carefully dry them out and see whether the pages could be pried apart.
Te Manawa manager of collections Jeff Fox said it was the museum’s role to preserve items such as the St Paul’s slice of history, to keep the memories and stories alive.
He said New Zealand had and would continue to lose a lot of its architectural heritage to earthquake risks, but could help remember the people, ‘‘so it’s not just about ghosts’’.
The time capsule and its contents were likely to be included in an exhibition, along with stained glass windows rescued from the church, and photographic records.