What we learned from the time capsule buried in 1995
The time capsule buried on June 29,1995 in front of Portsmouth High School on a warm and sunny afternoon was found on Dec. 28, 2023, a rainy, cold, windy day. For those who like numbers, that's 10,368 days, adjusting for Leap Years.
It was out of sight out of mind all those years. Worldwide, wars happened; nationwide, tragedies occurred; locally, new large buildings packed our downtown and more housing filled our neighborhoods − with more needed. But the time capsule remained untouched under two feet of rock and soil.
Those who buried it planned to find it three years ago at the completion of its quarter century journey, but because landscaping had changed where it had been buried, its exact location was difficult to determine.
In addition to ribbing as to why we couldn't find it, people asked why we did it and what's in it, so here are some answers.
In the early 1990s our entire region was hurting. Prospects didn't look good. Our large air force base was slated for closure with the loss of thousands of airport-related personnel and the resulting heavy economic impact. Almost simultaneously, one of the world's oldest shipyards was in danger of closing, and that threatened thousands of careers of long-time seacoast residents.
Those difficult challenges motivated local leaders to find solutions. Some action came from a group who planned what became known as the Greater Seacoast Economic Summit. It was a two-day event on April 16 and 17, 1991 held in Portsmouth and Durham exploring innovative and collaborative strategies to prepare for an uncertain future.
That was followed by the Portsmouth 2020 Vision Project, which had its introductory meeting involving panel discussions of nearly a hundred people at Yoken's Restaurant on May 22, 1991. That effort continued as a series of meetings during the next four years.
In late June of 1995, tasked with cataloguing the work of those efforts, volunteers placed agendas, documents, and audio tapes into what they called a time capsule − a large Rubbermaid container − to be opened in 25 years. It was decided to bury it in front of the high school, expanding the mission by asking students to write letters to their own future, keeping it a fun educational and visionary event.
When uncovered last week, the condition of the time capsule was found to be excellent, but unfortunately we also found an inch of water on the bottom. The lower six inches of items are moist.
We hope some of the documents and findings of the 1990s vision project will be readable, and the cassette tapes to be usable. We'll soon have a formal viewing of time capsule contents to examine what they tell us of those times of no too long ago. We'll also thank the many people who helped find the capsule last month.
The real purpose and value of the time capsule is to remind us of those efforts of three decades ago, and that collaboratively working together and putting philosophical and political differences aside, having a passion of thinking ahead, and daring to vision our future has special benefits for any community and any problem. Especially in tough times.
"It gets better" has many meanings.
Today's quote: "Our environment is our most important legacy. Our efforts to protect, manage, and conserve our precious air, water, land, and structural resources for our children and their children is our most important legacy." − from The Seacoast Compact, presented by the Unified Action Panel of the 1991 Greater Seacoast Economic Summit.
One City Manager to another: On the top of the time capsule just under the lid we found a packet identified as: "City of Portsmouth, Office of the City Manager" addressed to "Time Capsule 2020, City Manager." We'll be passing that on real soon.
Invitation to Presidential candidates: The Portsmouth 2123 Time Capsule we dedicated last week in Market Square has four tubes, representing Portsmouth's four centuries. One tube has been reserved for messages from presidential candidates crisscrossing New Hampshire, and their supporters.
We invite candidates to write letters to the President of 2123. Messages can be brought to the Portsmouth Public Library, 175 Parrott Avenue, the Senior Activity Center, 125 Cottage Street, and Cup of Joe, 31 Market Square.