A century in the making – plus an hour more. What was in Newport Naval Station time capsule
NEWPORT – It took three days of digging and jackhammering to get the time capsule out from the layers of concrete it was encased in and over an hour to remove the glass lid tightly sealing the contents. Inside sat pristinely preserved paper documents, photographs and small mementos from just over 100 years ago, commemorating the relationship between Newport naval base, the U.S. Naval War College, and the city they call home.
The jar was a trove of historic documents and small objects: various photographs, newspaper articles from the Newport Daily News and Newport Herald, naval guides and training pamphlets, rare coins, stamps, a wooden chip from one of the first commercial planes to fly a route from New York to Newport, a 1924 World Almanac, a 1923 directory book for Newport with the covers torn off to fit inside the jar, and sawdust from Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence.
'There's definitely conservation work that needs to happen,' Naval War College Museum collections specialist Maria Vasquez said. "I'm happy with how malleable they were. I was worried that they would be sort of stiff and not able to come out of the jar, so I'm happy with how things came out of the jar, and I'm glad the only difficult part was really that the jar was so well sealed.'
Vasquez, head of the project, was the one to open the jar, revealing its contents to a crowd of invited guests on Friday. The delicate surgical operation to remove the lid of the jar, sealed with two kinds of wax, utilized everything from a dental scraper to pocket hand warmers, and eventually a wooden clamp, with Vasquez being careful to neither break the glass nor disturb the contents inside.
Vasquez said the Naval War College learned about the time capsule while searching Newport Public Library's microfiche to obtain pictures for a separate preservation project. Tucked away in a wooden box, surrounded by layers of concrete and topped with roughly 40 inches of soil, the capsule's location was subtly marked by a plaque on the underside of 'Settler's Rock,' a monument erected at what is now Founders Hall to commemorate the 285th anniversary of Newport's founding. It took a team of contractors and members of the Naval Facilities Engineer Command to dislodge the hefty boulder and dig their way to where the capsule had been housed for 101 years.
'It was such a momentous occasion, we didn't want to get anything wrong,' Vasquez said.
The placement of both the Settler's Stone and the time capsule were the result of the work of Capt. Frank Evans, son of 'Fighting Bob' Evans, who served as the War College's commanding officer at the time, said Ryan Meyer, the Naval War College Museum curator, at the ceremony. At the time, Newport boasted a population of 30,000 and the base was one of the primary training grounds for the Navy.
After it was unearthed, the capsule was on display at Newport Public Library, which may have resulted in a spike in visits, according to Joseph Logue, the library's director. Now that the contents have been removed and identified, the Naval War College Museum plans to put the jar and possibly the coins back on display at the library for a while as it evaluates how it would like to preserve the various paper documents. After its stint at the library, the contents will be on display at the Naval War College Archives.
Both Vasquez and Meyer said the college is currently exploring the possibility of replacing the capsule with a new one. Vasquez says a possible date for commemoration would be the 250th anniversary of the Navy.
'Come explore the museum,' Meyers said to the event guests on Friday. 'It's easier than you think, a background check and an ID is all that's required. Many people have already inquired about a replacement for this recently unearthed time capsule. We are actively exploring the possibility with community stakeholders. As the process evolves, your input will be crucial, but be on the outlook for surveys, gatherings, in advance as we work together to create a time capsule that truly reflects the history and heritage of our community.'
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport Naval Station time capsule buried in 1924 opened
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