The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston made history on Tuesday when it opened the oldest time capsule ever uncovered in the United States.
The capsule, which was buried by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere in 1795, contained at least 24 coins, five newspapers, business cards, a title page from the Massachusetts colony records, a silver plaque inscribed by Revere, a copper medal depicting George Washington and a paper impression of the Seal of the Commonwealth.
[seealso slug="100-year-old-time-capsule"]
The 24 silver and copper coins found in the 10-pound brass capsule date from 1652 to 1855.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
Placed under a Massachusetts State House cornerstone by then state Governor Adams and American patriot Revere, the capsule was opened once before by the museum, in 1855. The contents were documented and cleaned, and more items were added to the capsule, which has not been opened since.
Close up shot of the 1795 engraved plate with the names of Paul Revere and Sam Adams. #timecapsule #MFA pic.twitter.com/UVhHc1oUfA— Ben Edwards (@BostonHistory) January 7, 2015
It was rediscovered in the summer of 2014 by the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) during a water infiltration project and excavated in December.
In October 2014, the New York Historical Society opened a 100-year-old time capsule. At the time, the Society claimed that capsule was the "oldest sealed time capsule" in the world; it contained several copies of newspapers, as well as yearbooks, almanacs and books.