A message from 'His Excellency' Sam Adams and The Most Worshipful Paul Revere': Time capsule buried by real 'Sons of Liberty' in 1795 is opened in live press conference
- Capsule was buried by war figures Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and William Scollay in 1795
- Was placed under a cornerstone of the State House in Massachusetts
- Only discovered last month during repairs for a water leak
- Inside were five newspapers and a coin collection
- Also a copper medal showing George Washington and some cards
- Items will be put on display and then placed back in the ground
They were the foot soldiers of the American Revolution, and are set to be at the center of new History channel miniseries Sons of Liberty.
And on Tuesday night a time capsule buried by war figures Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and William Scollay in 1795 was opened up, some 220 years after it was first put in the ground.
Officials at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts spent hours pouring through the copper box and the artifacts inside.
Among the finds were five folded newspapers, a Massachusetts commonwealth seal and at least 24 coins - dating from 1652 to 1855) including half-cent, one-cent, half-dime, 10-cent and 25-cent coins.
Another set of coins included a pine tree shilling and a copper medal showing George Washington.
Big reveal: Pam Hatchfield, the head of objects conservation at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, opens the 220-year-old time capsule on Tuesday night
Precision: Hatchfield spent four hours loosening the crews on the lid of the copper box
Good condition: Inside officials found five folded newspapers, all in a remarkable condition
Newspapers removed from a time capsule, which was placed under a cornerstone of the State House in 1795, sit in archival boxes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, January 6, 2015
Relic: The paper looked pretty good considering it is over 200 years old
Executive Director of the Massachusetts Archives, Michael Comeau, and MFA conservator Pam Hatchfield open a time capsule, which was placed under a cornerstone of the State House in 1795
There were at least 24 coins in the time capsule, including half-cent, one-cent, half-dime, 10-cent and 25-cent
Treasure: Items removed from the time capsule will be on display for a while, but eventually the time capsule will be placed in the cornerstone again
Coins, including a copper medal depicting George Washington (lower left), sit in an archival box after being removed from a time capsule, which was placed under a cornerstone of the State House in 1795
The original capsule was made of cowhide and believed to have been embedded in a cornerstone when construction on the state Capitol building began in 1795.
Adams, the legendary brewer, was governor at the time.
The contents were shifted to the copper box in 1855, which was only unearthed last month at the Statehouse.
Officials say old records and X-rays taken in December after the box was located and removed indicated the contents.
The main mystery during Tuesday's unveiling was the condition of the items, which experts believe partially deteriorated over time.
Pamela Hatchfield, a conservator at the museum, said the capsule initially was unearthed accidentally in 1855 when some modifications were made to the building, according to CNN.
'The paper is in amazingly good condition,' Hatchfield said as she went through the box.
Heroes: The capsule was buried by American Revolution figures, patriot Paul Revere (left) and statesman and political philosopher Samuel Adams (right) in 1795
Iconic: A painting depicting Paul Revere warning patriots of the impending British landings in Lexington on April 18, 1775 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Hatchfield said the tools she was using to remove objects from the time capsule included a porcupine quill, a bamboo tool and her grandfather's dental tool.
It took four hours just to loosen the screws on the box's lid, Hatchfield said.
She then spent at least another three hours looking through the capsule.
Secretary of State William Galvin said notes from that era indicated that officials washed some of the contents with acid before putting them in the new copper box.
He also said records show it was a humid day when the items were restored and the corner of the Statehouse where the capsule was reinstalled has had a water leakage problem for decades.
It's the second time capsule to resurface in Boston in recent months.
In October, a capsule dating to 1901 was uncovered in a lion statue adorning the Old State House.
That contained newspaper clippings, letters and a book on foreign policy.
The latest time capsule may be but back in the ground with its orginal items and some new things.
For now the items will be displayed at the museum until officials decide what to do with the capsule.
Upcoming: Actors portray Revolutionary War soldiers in a scene from Sons of Liberty, a new miniseries premiering in January on the History Channel
New series: Sons Of Liberty will tell the stories of war figures Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and William Scollay
The History Channel will debut their miniseries Sons of Liberty later this month.
It is a three-part, six-hour series that tells the back stories of the Founding Fathers and their furtive efforts to turn a colony into a country.
It will feature Revere's famous ride of April 18, 1775, to warn the colonists the British were coming.
'Most people think of this time as a bunch of guys in wigs who got in a room and wrote up the Declaration of Independence, but it is so much more than that,' Dirk Hoogstra, the History Channel's general manager, said.
'I’m not sure people really understand how crazy it was to make the decision they made to go to war with the most powerful military in the world, being untrained and unorganized.'
No comments:
Post a Comment