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Time
Capsule Reveals 55 Years of Chapel History
For nearly 55 years, it sat encased in a concrete enclosure,
sealed beneath a cornerstone at the front stoop of Helen
Hills Hills Chapel unbeknownst to anyone else on campus.
Then by chance last week,
as facilities management personnel were installing equipment
for a new air conditioning system,
they discovered a compartment designed for a time capsule.
The compartment had been noted on the chapel’s
blueprints, and a cornerstone marks the chapel’s entrance
with an engraved “1955,” the
year the building was completed, implying a place for one.
Yet no record of a time
capsule could be found. Hugh Flesher, former college chaplain
and dean of the chapel, thought there was a time
capsule, according to Jennifer Walters, dean of religious
life, “but
he didn’t know any more about it.”
Early on Tuesday, Feb. 24, contractors chipped open the
concrete encasement beneath the cornerstone and unearthed
a 3-foot tall, rectangular metal canister, rusted and corroded,
sealed water tight with a coat of solder around the top.
A small crowd gathered
later that morning for the opening of the chapel’s
time capsule in Bodman Lounge. Steve Norling, a contractor
with Building Systems, applied a power saw to the box and
began to cut as spectators held their breath, anticipating
what might be inside.
What they found was a
small museum of preserved artifacts from the year of the
chapel’s construction:
- a note from Helen
Hills Hills, the chapel benefactor, and a copy of her
remarks spoken at the groundbreaking ceremony for
the building on April 12, 1954;
- a
framed picture of Helen Hills Hills posing with her
husband James Mandly Hills;
- photographs
of the building’s construction;
- copies
of the Sophian dated April 13, 1954,
and May 11, 1955;
- an
article from the Hampshire Gazette about the
cornerstone;
- a
Smith College Bulletin, 1953-54;
- an
annual report from President Benjamin Wright, 1952-53;
- an Interfaith Community
Bulletin from May 18, 1955;
- and a Holy
Bible, with a handwritten note from the newly appointed
College Chaplain Richard Unsworth, “On the occasion of the laying of
the cornerstone of the Helen Hills Hills Chapel, May 19,
1955.”
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The
55-year-old items from the chapel time capsule will be added
to the building files in Smith College Archives, said Nanci
Young, college archivist, who attended the capsule opening.
“Time capsules are very interesting,” said Young. “It’s
a slice of the time it was put together.”
There are a few other time capsules on campus, according
to Young. One from Tyler House donated in 2000, and another
for Jordan House donated last year, are stored in College
Archives.
“I remember when the time capsule was put in,” recalled
Unsworth, who served a total of 25 years as college chaplain,
in several stints between 1954 and 1999, and who attended
the laying of the chapel cornerstone. “It was a small
ceremony. It’s good to hear that the capsule has finally
been opened. There are a lot of good stories around the development
of the chapel since it was built my first year.”
From his first residence, at 197 Elm St., when he began
as chaplain, Unsworth had a daily view of the chapel construction.
The metal box that protected
the chapel artifacts from the elements shows the effects
of 55 years worth of water saturation with a pattern of
rusty patina on its exterior. Though its items have been
removed, it’s not going anywhere, said
Walters, who will find a place for it in the chapel.
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